Gods of Battle, Gods of Death
by Alex McM
Summary: Strange figures resembling the grim reaper appear. They kill hollows, but also the innocent souls they are supposed to protect. Can Soul Society conquer this new threat or will the 'reapers' defeat them.
1. Prologue

**Gods of Battle, Gods of Death **

All right! It's a new story, unrelated to all my other ones. Anyway, if you can't guess from the title...there will be blood!! This will be really gory but as always, I'll try and fit some romance in there to keep some balance. I might experiment with a few pairings this time as well. Please review.

**Prologue**

NORTH AMERICA

NIGHT

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!" The scream should have woken the whole neighbourhood, but this noise was not from a living man. It was his soul. As a soul, he was invisible, inaudible and imperceptible to any other senses, except the kind that could see ghosts, but that was a rarity not usually found in America.

The man dived into a hedge garden and winced. His left arm was severely lacerated.

A huge mass of grey bounded into view. It stood at least four metres high and had a large head concealed by a white mask. Gleaming yellow eyes searched for it's prey. It's sharp fangs shone in the moonlight. They were slick with drool. The creature roared and the sound made the man cry. It's mask resembled that of a snake, yet it's body was thick, muscular and had arms and legs.

_What is this monster?!_

The man yelped as the inhuman head turned to face him. The heavy jaws opened to reveal it's teeth, perfectly suited to tearing him apart.

The man rushed to his feet and made a desperate run for the shopping mall just a few houses away. Surely the monster wouldn't go into a public building...hopefully.

The man felt his confidence drain as the beast got closer with each stride. He was too slow. But still, he struggled on. He felt no pain in his legs because the stinging sensation from his arm cancelled it out.

The beats, searing hot breath brushed against his back. It's heavy footsteps boomed like thunder.

The man crashed through the doors of the shopping mall and rolled into a small child. The child was thrown backwards and he looked around, dazed and confused. "I'm sorry." The man apologised, but the child never heard him. Only one thing heard him...and it was the terrifying creature which had now crawled into the open space of the shop. People bounced off of it and then stormed off, confused and angry.

The beast quickly angered at the ignorant humans and it finally snapped.

A fat middle-aged man's head erupted in a red shower, his head now inside the beasts stomach. The shoppers around him screamed and ran about in a frenzy. More citizens bumped into the monster and in it's fit of rage, the body count rose.

The man began to run off. He was no longer a mortal, he had no need to help them.

As he frenziedly sprinted around every corner and through every door, he charged down dazed shoppers. He feebly apologised, but it was in vain. His mad run ended when he was knocked into a blue wall.

"Hey!! Watch it!! I should..." He trailed off.

His assailant wielded a gleaming scythe, it's blade covered in cuts and scars, a tribute to many battles. The attacker was completely concealed by a black robe with a large hood. It raised it's weapon and struck down the innocent man.

Meanwhile, the hollow had moved to the entrance, blocking off escape for the poor unknowing victims. It's relentless massacre stopped and the beast sniffed the air. It could taste a bitter scent in the air. A presence which was best avoided. The beast hissed and spat at a hooded figure which slowly waded through the pool of blood and frightened civilians.

The monster swiped it's large paws in a frenzy, stopping the cloaked figure from getting close enough to attack.

A strange grunt came from beneath the hood and the person drew their arms back while still grasping the scythe.

The creature stared. It's curiosity was piqued by the strange stance.

The hooded figure grunted again and effortlessly threw their weapon. It swirled and danced before sawing through the monsters skull, only to appear on the other side.

The cloaked person vanished from sight and reappeared instantly behind the creature, catching it's weapon.

The scared crowd shrieked as they were soaked in the dying beasts blood. The crowd could not see what was causing the spray, only feel it as it rained down on them.

The hooded man watched the crowd for some time and then vanished.

Well, what was that? A hooded man who can see and kill hollow...is he a shinigami? A human? Or something more sinister?!

Hopefully, that little taste of what is to come will have you interested enough until I finish the first chapter. 

Please review!!


	2. Somethings Wrong!

**1. Something's Wrong!**

MIDDAY

KARAKURA HIGH SCHOOL

A crow rasped from atop a classroom. A rock soared through the air and scared it away. The crows beady little eyes glared at the orange haired boy who brandished another rock.

"Go away you stupid bird!!" The boy roared.

Reluctantly, the bird accepted. It flew off of it's perch and went away to find food.

The boy sighed and leaned against a wall. He looked as though he was about to fall asleep, but his eyes shot open and he stared at a spot to his left. In seconds, a small girl materialized in that exact spot. She brushed back the stray black strands from her face, leaving a thin bang in the middle. Her eyes shone a vibrant, deep, oceanic blue.

A hint of a smile crept across her features. "You're improving at sensing me Ichigo. Even now, you are still growing in power!"

"Yeah whatever..." Ichigo said distantly, his gaze concentrating on nothing in particular.

"What? Is something wrong?" The girls smile faded into a concerned frown.

"No, it's nothing...but...Rukia, can you hear that?" Ichigo asked, his eyes narrowing.

Rukia turned in the same direction and listened. Sure enough, there was a faint noise. A high pitched whine. Rukia frowned and squinted at a blurry shape in the distance. "Whatever it is, it's coming for us!" Rukia's hands drifted towards her sword which was stored in a scabbard at her side.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-" The shape became clearer. It took on a human form and was moving very quickly towards them.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

"What the...is that?" Ichigo cocked his head. "Oh crap!! Rukia, get in your gigai!!" Ichigo stepped out in front of her as she changed forms. She no longer wore a samurai uniform, but instead, wore the grey skirt and plain white shirt which was worn by school students.

A young man with wild brown hair finished his marathon and wheezed while doubled over. "I... Ichi...Ichigo...How...Are you?" He stammered.

"Keigo...you ran all the way here to ask me how my day was?" Ichigo scratched at his fiery spikes.

"Yeah." Keigo laughed. "Pretty much."

"Why?!"

"Well. I got tickets to the premiere of 'Bad shield 3' and was gonna see if you wanted to go." Keigo reached inside his shirt pocket and took out a handful of tickets.

"Why are there so many?" Rukia asked, pointing a slender finger at them.

Keigo grinned and leaned close to her. "Well Rukia...I was saving one for you as well." Keigo raised his eyebrows and his grin doubled in size.

"Oh, that's so sweet! I'd love to go!" Rukia beamed. "But only if I get to sit next to you..." She smiled seductively and Keigo ran off cheering.

Once he was out of earshot, Rukia laughed hysterically.

Ichigo shook his head. "I know he's an idiot, but that was low!"

Rukia tried to respond but her laughter had caused her to fall to the ground and cry.

"Oh for gods sake! Will you control yourself! You're supposed to be 150 years old, why don't you act like it!" Ichigo crossed his arms.

Rukia giggled. "Ok." She hunched over and held a hand in front of herself, grasping an imaginary cane. "Oh sonny, be a dear and get me medicine will you?" Rukia lost control and laughed boisterously again.

Ichigo cursed under his breath. "Could this day get any worse?! I have to put up with you while you're fucking high!!"

Rukia frowned and gave him a perplexed expression. "High?"

"High...it's like when you take- Wait! Why do I need to tell you all this stuff? I thought you researched people in your spare time, why don't you find out yourself?!"

A loud bell signalled a return to class.

"Come on, lets go."

*****

SEREITEI

"Oh, my head! I think I drank too much last night!" Whined Matsumoto Rangiku, a buxom blonde who, despite her bad habits and laziness, had risen to the rank of lieutenant. She grasped the side of her head and winced.

"Dammit Matsumoto! I told you to quit!!" Roared captain Hitsugaya. He glared at her from his desk, but his head barely rose above the pile of papers planted on the table.

"I swore I would quit by next month!" Matsumoto claimed in defence.

"I know..." Hitsugaya closed his eyes. "You did say that...the only problem is...YOU SAID THAT SIX MONTHS AGO!!!" His green eyes blazed and a vein appeared at the top of his forehead.

"Sorry..." Matsumoto slumped into the red lounge and turned away from him.

"Look, if I got a bit angry, I'm sorry but-" Hitsugaya stopped as Matsumoto snored. He snarled and his teeth ground together. "DAMMIT MATSUMOTO!!!"

*****

Outside, a small woman shrieked. The loud yells had scared her.

"Momo? Is that you?" The thin door slid aside and Toshiro stared at her. His face was red and his hair was frayed.

"Hi Toshiro, you look stressed." Momo giggled sheepishly.

"For a start...It's captain Hitsugaya! And secondly, you have no idea what it is like to live with such a lazy, ignorant-"

"I can hear you!" Matsumoto yelled from inside.

Hitsugaya groaned and faced Momo. "So, what did you want anyway?"

"Oh, yes. Um...There is a meeting for all captains and their subordinates. Didn't you hear about it?"

"Probably, but I have so many other problems right now! I must have forgotten. When is it?" Toshiro rubbed his eyes.

"Well. Now."

"What?! We have to hurry!!" Toshiro flash stepped to Matsumoto's side and prodded her. "Wake up! You can sleep later, right now we need to get to the captains meeting!!"

Matsumoto grunted angrily and shakily rose to her feet. "Oh...I don't feel like running."

"Fine!!" Toshiro growled. "We'll see you there and don't be too late!!" With that, he and Momo flash stepped away.

******

FOUR HOURS LATER

Toshiro stood out in the rain, in the courtyard in front of his squads barracks. The flood of the skies soaked his haori to his skin. His usually spiky hair was now laying straight down the sides of his face. His eyes darted about nervously, searching.

"Toshiro-kun, you shouldn't be out there. You'll catch your death!" Momo called from the roofed area of the barracks.

"There are worse things than death..." Toshiro muttered. "Matsumoto never showed up to the meeting." His voice took a deeper tone than usual. He was scared.

"Maybe she was just sleeping. You know her. She-" Momo was cut off mid sentence.

"She never returned to the barracks either! She's missing!!" Toshiro turned to Momo. His eyes pleaded with her to give any information she knew. Momo felt like telling a lie just to calm him down. It was painful to see him like this.

"I can go ask around. If I find out anything, I'll tell you immediately. Ok?" Momo disappeared.

Toshiro scanned the foggy distance. A slumped figure leaned against a wall.

_Matsumoto!! Thank god she's okay!!_

Hitsugaya dashed forward. His legs submerged to his knees as he waded through a large puddle. As he got closer, he could see her more clearly. She wore a black cloak and was holding a long stick to hold herself up.

"Matsumoto? Are you alright?"

She took a slow step forward and grunted.

"Are you feeling okay? Are you hurt?"

Still no response.

"Matsumoto?"

The hooded figure vanished.

Hitsugaya's eyes widened and he spun on his heels just in time to see the cloaked figure jump over a rooftop.

"Cap...tain..." A female voice gasped from nearby.

_Matsumoto?!_

Toshiro ran towards the source of the noise but when he got there, he only glimpsed a senkai gate closing. Toshiro cursed and gritted his teeth. Water was getting in his eyes, clouding his vision. His legs suddenly felt weak and he collapsed in the mud. He felt weak for no reason. Out of the corner of his eye, another hooded figure walked past. Toshiro wanted to yell after the figure, but decided against it.

*****

WORLD OF THE LIVING

KUROSAKI CLINIC

Ichigo became bored with watching the television and now stared out the window. Dark clouds had taken hold of the sky, sending the small town of Karakura into darkness.

Ichigo frowned. He missed Rukia. She had gone out to kill a hollow an hour ago and hadn't come back. He felt worried, but not enough to go look for her.

His phone rang. The loud tinny song startled him. Ichigo flipped the phone open and held it to his ear. Someone was breathing heavily, they sounded like they would collapse any moment now.

"Hello?" Ichigo said.

_#I-I-Ichigo... Please...Help me!#_

The voice was Rukia's. He could hear Rukia groaning. "Where are you? What happened?"

_#I...went to... kill...the hollow... but...# She stopped._

"_Rukia? Rukia?! Can you hear me?! Where are you?!" Ichigo was starting to panic. Sweat dripped into his eye and he wiped it away while cursing._

_#Oh no!! Please... HELP!!!#_

"RUKIA!!!"

#_No...stay away!! AAAAAGGHHHH!!_!# Ichigo heard a crackling noise. Rukia was screaming for a while but then a loud wet 'shunk' echoed. Rukia gurgled and a loud thud followed. Then all went silent.

"Ru...kia..." He dropped his phone and buried his head in his hands.

I hope you're enjoying it so far. This chapter was much longer, but the prologue was never intended to be long anyway. 

In the next chapter: The search begins. More people go missing. And also, the hooded figures show themselves! Don't miss it!!

Now review!! 


	3. The Message

**2. The Message**

Rain...the tears of the sky. When the Earth cries, only sorrow and pain await it's inhabitants.

As Rukia's eyelid pried open slightly, droplets of rain shot into her eye. She groaned and rolled over onto her stomach. It brought terrible pain and she had to lay on her side. Her uniform was glued to her skin by the pouring rain. Her blood spilled onto the ground, only to be joined by rainwater to create a large red puddle that made it look like she had bled a whole river.

She closed her eyes and tried to block out the searing pain. Her body felt like it had been hacked apart all over, but there was only one clean cut across her gut. Liquid ran down her face, she wasn't certain if she was crying or just being pelted by rain. Either way it hurt.

Her ears ached from the constant drumming of water to earth. She wanted to scream but her thoughts concluded that it would only hurt her more.

"Ichigo..." It was all she could mutter. She wasn't ready to die yet. She still hadn't confessed her feelings to Ichigo. They had been a team for so long, yet there was never a proper time to voice her thoughts. "...I love you..."

Only ten metres away, a man wearing a red hooded cloak studied the girl lying in the street. He then looked to the ground at his feet where a bloodied scythe lay. He spread his fingers out and the scythe floated up to his hand. He twirled it and then gazed at the bright crimson stains. His face drifted closer. A black tongue snaked out and ran along the blood stained edge. His own blood mixed with hers and a burst of reiatsu exploded out from his body.

Rukia's head slowly rolled around, but by the time she had turned around, he was gone.

_What was that reiatsu?!_

*****

KARAKURA HIGH SCHOOL

Ichigo slumped over his desk. Rukia's reiatsu had disappeared and he had heard her tortured screams in that phone call. She was gone. Their bond was broken before it was even started. His heart was broken and fed through a shredder. His reason for becoming a shinigami and even living, was Rukia! Now that she had fallen, Ichigo could not bear to don the black kimono and fight anymore. Life was nothing anymore...not without her!

Ichigo's pen scraped along his book, slowly drawing a noose, then a face...his own!

With a sigh, Ichigo picked up the book. He held it out for a moment staring at it. In the lower left hand corner, a small message was scrawled in Rukia's handwriting. It read: 'Ichigo, I want to know more about this world. I want to know how you live and what makes you be happy and sad. I want to know about love and hurt. May we learn together.'

Ichigo growled and tore up the book. As the scraps fell down, several pieces arranged themselves. They read: "Ichigo. I. Love. You. May we. Be. Together."

Ichigo gripped his hair and shrieked. All eyes fell upon him as he tore out two handfuls of his orange locks. Ichigo slammed his fist into the window and shards of glass jabbed him.

"Ichigo! What's wrong?!" Orihime asked, her hands to her face. She took a step closer, but was stopped by a strong yet feminine arm. Tatsuke stared at Ichigo. "Stay back Hime, he isn't himself right now!"

Ichigo's shoulders rose and fell and his chest did the same erratically. His hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly as if he were catching numerous bad thoughts every few seconds.

"Ichi-" Orihime started.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" Ichigo jumped out of the window and disappeared.

Orihime sprinted out the door and ran after him.

*****

Orihime was only twenty metres behind Ichigo. He ducked through alleys and bushes in an attempt to lose her, but she ran onwards. Finally, Ichigo escaped by bounding over a fence. Orihime slowed and stopped.

She frowned and looked to the ground. The sun was reflected in a deep puddle. Orihime watched the sun disappear behind ominous dark clouds.

Then a hooded face appeared in the reflection.

Orihime barely screamed before she was struck down.

*****

SEREITEI

Soi Fon flicked back her short black hair and strode towards the tenth squad barracks. Toshiro was distressed and seeked her help. She held her usual, cold and stern expression and slid the wooden door open. Toshiro sat by a zanpakuto, but it was not his...it was Matsumoto's.

"Is Rangiku not here? Usually she would have verbally assaulted me by now." Soi Fon muttered.

"She went missing two days ago. I wanted you to send out scouts to try and find her." Toshiro pleaded.

"No."

The answer took Toshiro by surprise. "What?"

"I said no. That silly drunk probably just dozed off in Rukongai or something!"

"She didn't!!" Toshiro protested. "Something attacked her!! I saw them run off!!"

"Really?" Soi Fon became suddenly curious.

"They wore a hood over their face and...I cant remember anything more than that. It was like a spell or something. It drained me of energy and I couldn't move!"

"Interesting. Maybe I will send out scouts. This sounds like a fun challenge!" Soi Fon raised an index finger and waved it around.

"Thank you Soi Fon! I am in debt to you." Toshiro bowed.

"You misunderstand. I am doing this for my own reasons, I could not care less about Rangiku!" Soi Fon spun on her heels and left.

Hitsugaya watched the clouds through the open door. "Matsumoto..."

*****

SHINIGAMI TRAINING EXERCISE

OLD EXECUTION GROUNDS

A group of twenty shinigami-in-training and two instructors crowded around a dead hollow. They were deep down in the pit where criminals used to be dropped into masses of bloodthirsty hollows. The practice was abolished several hundred years ago because it was deemed too cruel even for worthless criminals and traitors. Now it was used as a training ground for young soul reapers. The hollows were monitored and if they were about to kill, the instructors would swoop down and annihilate them. It was safer for trainees to practice combat and it was now a common exercise.

"Where the hell is Kenpachi?! He begged us to come along and he doesn't even show up!" One of the instructors murmured. He was a 12th seat in third squad. He was tall and skinny with a mop of blue hair.

"You should have expected as much from that brute!" Scolded his female companion. Her blonde locks swept down to her lower back. She was quite attractive, despite a scar across her forehead. It was from a hollow attack during a training exercise, the other instructors had been killed but she lived. She was 9th seat of fifth squad.

"Oh, well. We'll start off without him." The man turned to the students and signalled for silence. "All right. I want you to divide into pairs. We will do some sparring while we wait!"

The students did as instructed and fought each other with wooden swords, the real zanpakuto were in a nearby storeroom.

From the top of the pits, one of the cloaked figures watched. In the sunlight, his face was slightly revealed. He had no eyes or nose and anything else was veiled in shadow. He grunted and picked up his scythe. His non-existent eyes scanned the cages below. Hollows bellowed and roared at their captors and eventually, executioners. Saliva drooled out of their jaws and some was flung at the shinigami.

The cloaked man hurled his scythe and it soared down into the pit, slicing its way though the bars of the cages. The bars collapsed and the hollow charged out, eager for their freedom.

The shinigami were surrounded on all sides by hungry beasts and their fighting force was weak and unskilled.

Their screams echoed up to the cloaked man who laughed wickedly. "My, how our brethren have fallen!"

The battle seemed in the shinigami's favour, even though half of the trainees had fallen. The hollow were too unorganized and barely had room to move, making them easier to slay.

"Come on!! We can beat them!!" Roared the female instructor. "Isn't that righ-" Her gaze settled on her companion as he was sliced in half by a flying scythe. His upper body fell forwards, but his legs went rigid and refused to collapse. Blood spurted out in a disgusting shower. She wanted to weep, but it was not the time. She flash stepped to an upper level of the pit and called down to the others.

"RETREAT!!! GET OUT OF THERE!!!" Something whirred behind her. She just managed to step out of the path of the spinning blade which split the earth at his feet. She craned her neck up to see a grim reaper-like figure watching her from the top of the pit.

"Hey!! What are you doing?! Who are you?!" As soon as her voice reached him, he vanished.

A young shinigami shrieked as her arm was torn off from the shoulder by an irate hollow.

The instructor couldn't bare to witness the slaughter, she had to leave. Her students dying screams chased her until she was far away.

*****

THE NEXT DAY

Soi Fon and her accompaniment of guards listened intently to the young instructor. They all stood at the base of the pit, but they had not looked down yet, fearing the worst.

"So..." Soi Fon placed a finger on her chin. "...You said that a man in a black cloak attacked your group and released the hollows?"

The instructor nodded and hugged herself.

"Well, well. Toshiro was right. There is a killer on the loose." Soi Fon walked to the base of the pit and looked down into the dark depths. There was a pyramid of decimated corpses. Soi Fon frowned slightly, but she usually frowned anyway, so her expression barely changed. "He returned once you left. This must have been planned...but why?"

The instructor screamed. Soi Fon followed her gaze and noticed a head on a stake set into one of the higher levels. A red trail ran from his gaping mouth, down the pole and to the ground where it spread out into a message.

"What is that?!" The instructor whispered. She bent forwards and then moved away to empty her stomach.

"This is...insane!! Who would do such a thing?!" Soi Fon used Shunpo to get a closer look.

"We...declare war...on shinigami!" Soi Fon read aloud. "We? There are more of them!!" She turned to her guards and her expression showed her concern. "Tell the Captain-Commander immediately! Also, inform the other captains! Now go!" She commanded. With a wave of her hand, they all disappeared in unison.

*****

WORLD OF THE LIVING

URAHARA SHOP

A slender, dark skinned woman sat cross-legged at a low table. A bowl of rice was placed in front of her by a man in a green and white striped hat. His sandals made loud clicks as the hit the wooden floor. He sat down across from his guest and took a sip from a cup of tea.

"We have a problem." He stated blankly.

"Really? I thought you just wanted to invite me over for a nice meal?" The woman faked a sad expression.

"This is not a joke Yoruichi!" The man slammed a fist down on the table. A thin crack was left behind when he moved his hand. Yoruichi's eyes were wide open now.

"So...what is the matter Kisuke?" She said while still staring at the crack in the table.

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed yet, but Rukia's reiatsu has disappeared completely! The same goes for Miss Inoue."

"No..."

Urahara took off his hat and ran a hand through his wild blonde hair. "I've tried contacting Ichigo, but he hasn't responded at all and I can't track him."

"Does Soul Society know about this?" Yoruichi asked.

"Not that I know of. But I wanted you to go and tell them, plus, you can find out if they know anything!" Urahara gazed into Yoruichi's eyes. "But be careful! I have a horrible feeling about this."

"Don't worry Kisuke. I can watch my own back!" Yoruichi opened a senkai gate and strolled through.

*****

POLICE STATION

Tatsuke gazed around at the officers. The place was a buzz of activity, police running around yelling and exchanging files. She stopped at a desk where a fat male officer was watching a small TV.

"Um. Excuse me?"

The guard whirled around on his office chair and eyed her up and down. "Yes. May I help you?"

"Yes! My friend is-"

"No, not you! Her!" The guard pointed at a woman cradling a child who was covered in deep gashes.

Tatsuke stepped back as the woman cried hysterically about her son getting attacked by nothing. The guard turned to his colleagues and shouted.

"Another one about the invisible thing!"

Several officers nodded and then they tapped away at computers.

Tatsuke again approached the guard but a man pushed her out of the way. Tatsuke cursed and stomped out. On her way she overheard the man.

"My wife! She was just walking the dog with me and then...and then...Her fucking head just disappeared!!"

Tatsuke felt sick. Something terrible was going on in Karakura and it had hit her hard!

_Invisible...wait a minute! Ichigo! He knows!_

She sprinted to the Kurosaki clinic and knocked on the door so hard that it almost fell in. Yuzu answered the door and told her that Ichigo had never returned home last night.

Tatsuke suddenly got an idea.

_Orihime's house!! He must know!!_

As she ran, she tripped. She fell face first onto the sidewalk and grasped at her bleeding nose. She felt her face and deduced that she had a large graze on her chin and another one on her cheek. She looked behind her to see what she had tripped on and almost screamed.

It was a scythe. The blade was slick with crimson liquid. But not her own.

Tatsuke jumped up and scurried off. She had no interest on finding out who owned the weapon.

When she finally reached Orihime's apartment, she walked past a mirror in the hallway. She noticed more grazes on her arms. She groaned and knocked on Orihime's door.

No one answered so she produced a key. Orihime had given it to her a few years ago. The lock clicked and the door swayed open with a loud 'creack'.

"Hello?" Tatsuke's steps echoed in the dusty room. She walked into the next room and noticed the orange spikes at the other side of the room.

"Ichigo, what are you doing here?"

Ichigo made no movements whatsoever.

"HEY!!!" Tatsuke got closer, but still Ichigo made no response. "Ichigo!!" Tatsuke grabbed Ichigo's arm and spun him around to face her. Tears stained his face and his head was lowered.

"Ichigo, what is going on?! Orihime is missing and people all over town are talking about 'invisible attackers'."

"It's nothing." Ichigo murmured.

"What?! Tell me what is happening!! I'm sick of you hiding things from me!!" Tatsuke roared.

"I told you...it's nothing." Ichigo kept his gaze to the floor.

"Dammit Ichigo!!" Tatsuke grasped Ichigo's collar and her face went red. "Stop messing around! Where is Orihime?! And where is Rukia?!"

His head snapped up at the last name. His eyes shone yellow and the whites of his eyes were no longer whites, they were black. "Don't mention her name!!" He growled.

Tatsuke was terrified, but she was too determined to give up. "Tell me everything you know or I'll spread the word about you and your samurai game!!"

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"That's right! I've seen you in your black kimono with a giant sword, fighting weird monsters! I don't know what it all means, but I do know it's a secret! Now spill it! Where are they?"

Ichigo sighed and closed his eyes. His mouth opened and the words that left his mouth were not what Tatsuke had expected.

"No!"

Ichigo back-handed her and glared at her as she hit the floor. "If you tell _anyone_...you will never see Orihime again, because I will _kill_ you!"

Tatsuke lunged at him and began punching him mercilessly. Ichigo made no attempt to defend himself and just took the beating. When she stopped, Tatsuke fell back and cried.

"I thought we were friends..." She sobbed.

Ichigo turned away and looked at the floor again. Tatsuke noticed a patch of red on a cloth. She crawled closer and found a message scrawled in blood.

"Your end shall come! One by one, you will fall until the war is accepted, and then...death shall fight against death."

"What does it mean?" Tatsuke queried.

Ichigo didn't answer.

"I said. What does-" Tatsuke looked around the room.

Ichigo was gone.

Tension is rising, fear is spreading and war is silently waiting! The cloaked assailants are commiting increasingly aggressive acts and speak of a war on shinigami. What will happen?

Find out in the next chapter!!

REVIEW!!! Do it!!!


	4. Defeated

**3. Defeated**

SEREITEI

CAPTAINS MEETING

Captain Commander, Yammamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, glared with tiny eyes at his assembled captains. His wrinkles sagged and his white beard ran across the floor.

"As you are aware, Soi Fon has alerted us to the danger of a group of dangerous ryoka. They have proposed a battle with us and have proven their seriousness. As such, we must be careful. We have lost a captain strength officer already, Matsumoto Rangiku, of 10th squad. She is missing and presumed dead."

Toshiro's face fell at the news. His hope was shattered in an instant by the ancient mans words.

"We shall defeat this menace before it becomes too powerful! We-"

Something flew into the room. It was a dull brown moth with a skull emblazoned on it's back.

"A moth?" Toshiro frowned at it.

A booming voice echoed in throughout the room.

"Hello, Shinigami! It has been too long since we met each other."

"That voice!" Yammamoto slammed his cane down on the floor. "Show yourself you coward!!"

The deep voice laughed. "We have shown ourselves numerous times, you were just too weak to return to tell the story. It is an insult knowing that you banished us from soul society!"

"YOU!!" Hitsugaya roared. "You are the one who attacked Matsumoto! What have you done to her!!"

"Calm yourself child. Anger is a powerful weapon, but only when it can be manipulated."

"Who are you?!"

"We are the reapers! You call yourselves death gods, but you have never faced the powers of the true rulers of death! We are death itself and we shall not be defeated! Farewell, weak little shinigami. Our next meeting shall be on the battlefield. It is time we decided who shall rule over the dead...once and for all!!"The moth burst into flame and turned to ash.

"The western shinigami..." Yammamoto gripped the cane so hard it made his palms bleed.

All captains trained their eyes on their leader. "Captain-commander, you have faced these vermin before?" Queried Jushiro Ukitake, the captain of 13th squad. His long white hair hung limply over his shoulders. His eyes revealed his tiredness.

Yammamoto ignored the question and turned his withered old face to another captain. "Kurotsuchi!"

The odd looking captain raised his strangely decorated face to look at him.

"I want you to try and locate the source of the message. Use any means necessary, they must be found."

Mayuri nodded and his fingers twitched excitedly. He stormed off chattering to himself.

Next, Yammamoto pointed a wrinkled finger at Soi Fon. "Soi Fon, continue the scouting. Ensure that I am informed immediately of their whereabouts once they are found!"

Soi Fon bowed and nodded curtly.

"As for the rest of you..." Yammamoto waved his cane at them. "...I want you to mobilise your forces and prepare yourselves!"

"Prepare for what exactly?" Shunsui Kyouraku asked. He wore a rice farmers hat and a women's poncho over his haori. His untamed brown hair fell across his face and a slight beard adorned his chin.

"You shall find out when the time comes." Was all the captain commander said.

"What do they look like?!" Growled a large man hidden in the shadows in the corner of the room. He stepped out slightly and tall black spikes came into view. Tiny bells sat atop them and they rang with each movement.

"You need not know until the proper time!"

"I'll hunt them down for you, just tell me what I'm looking for!!" The captain was getting irritated.

"Very well." The old man sighed and closed his small eyes. "Are you familiar with the western interpretation of death?"

The captain cocked his head.

"The image of the 'grim reaper'. That is what they look like. That is all you need to know for now."

"So, black hood and a scythe? Easy!!" The captain ran off and his heavy footsteps made the hall tremble.

"Zaraki shall never return now." Murmured a stern faced captain who bore a slight resemblance to Rukia. His hair divided his face, just like Rukia, except there were three bangs instead of one. He wore several ornaments which revealed his high ranking and nobility. He slowly strolled off deep in thought.

The other captains left, except for two: Yammamoto and Toshiro.

The two stood in silence, one fearful of the old enemy that had returned, the other fearful for his lieutenant, friend and something more. Toshiro had always been too nervous to show his affection towards Matsumoto and now that she was assumed dead, he felt unaccomplished and weak. He loved her but the words never had the chance to leave his mouth.

"I know you are mourning the loss of your subordinate, but you must be wary of the reapers!" Yammamoto broke the cold silence.

"She is not dead..." Toshiro muttered in an attempt to calm himself.

"The search has been called off! There is no trace of her or her attacker! She is dead and if not, hopelessly lost and never to be found! Let it go and do as you are ordered!" Yammamoto's intimidating deep voice rasped.

"How dare you!!" Toshiro unsheathed his sword and held it in front of him, ready to attack.

"You are becoming obsessive young one! You think that your threats are worth anything towards me?!" The old man spat on the floor. "If you wish to be beaten then come forward, but if you have any pride as a shinigami left then you will stand down!!" Yammamoto held his cane horizontally and it materialized into a katana.

"How can you abandon Matsumoto?! She is out there somewhere, wounded and in need of help, but you are going to turn a blind eye!! Why?!" Toshiro's shoulders heaved and his chest rose and fell aggressively.

"You are exhausting yourself with such trivial emotions. You are weak!! Now face me or leave!!" The old man removed the sword from it's scabbard and studied the glistening blade.

"You are a disgraceful leader!! You should give up your position as captain commander!!" Toshiro's eyes blazed like the dragon which embodied his blade.

"You runt!!" Yammamoto ran a hand over his blade. "Turn all the world to ash...Ryujin Jakka!!" His blade dissipated in a sea of flames which incinerated the building. "I shall punish you for your insolent remarks!! Prepare yourself captain Hitsugaya!!"

The two blades collided in a spray of sparks. Steel clashed against steel as fire and ice fought furiously. Toshiro had to back away from the relentless onslaught from his commander. Yammamoto glared through the smoke and orange haze. He walked casually forward.

Toshiro roared and dashed forward. He swung his sword down at a distance and an icy dragon soared out of the blade tip. The dragon came close to Yammamoto but before it could strike, a wave of fire melted it on impact. Toshiro's eye's widened. He was no match for this man but he had to defend his honour!! Even if it was suicide!

Toshiro howled and rushed forward again. Yammamoto unleashed an orange sea but Toshiro ducked under it and slashed at Yammamoto's heels. The old man flash stepped to Toshiro's left and hacked at his side. The deadly blow was blocked just in time and the two blades shook under their opponents strength. In a clash of sparks, the two fell back, each retreating to a safe distance before charging forward again.

The two exchanged furious blows and Toshiro was slowly being overpowered. His attacks were not strong enough to knock the commander back but Yammamoto's sent him back against a wall. Yammamoto thrust his sword at flesh but the attack was dodged and the blade buried itself into the wall.

_This is my chance!!_

Toshiro drew his blade back and swung it at the captain commander's torso. His blade sung with killing intent and his reiatsu had increased as well as his confidence. The blade was inches from Yammamoto's body now.

Time slowed as the blade came within ten centimetres of it's target.

Nine...

Eight...

Seven...

Six...

BOOM!!

Toshiro did not see what hit him, nor could he feel it until he was knocked through the wall and into the courtyard. Dust and rubble fell around him and he tried to rise to his feet but to no avail. He coughed violently and specks of blood stained the ground. Smoke stung his eyes and clouded his vision. A blurry silhouette strolled out of the hole in the wall.

Toshiro coughed again and a torrent of life fluid gushed out onto the ground. The crimson puddle at his feet spread and he collapsed.

The smoke cleared and Yammamoto stepped forward. He was unharmed and his sword was now sealed away inside his cane. His silence revealed his rage better than any words.

Toshiro gasped for air and felt something hit him in the gut. Yammamoto had flash stepped to him and was stomping on him.

"For that dishonourable display...I have no choice but to remove your rank as a captain!"

The words cut through Toshiro like a sword. He was humiliated and beaten and now salt had been rubbed into the wound. His life, his honour, were to be taken from him. He was to be robbed of all that he held dear. He lowered his head and tried to hide the tears that flowed.

"Usually, such acts are punishable by death! But I shall be lenient considering your bravery in the past."

"You mean I can still be captain?" Wheezed Hitsugaya.

Yammamoto snorted and slammed his cane down. "Of course not! You threw away your title the moment you chose to attack me! In this case...Mercy is..."

Toshiro almost fainted at the words. "No...NOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

*****

UNKNOWN LOCATION

Light groans echoed throughout the darkness. All was still, except for several bodies on the ground.

Rukia tried to open her eyes but they were crusted over. She wiped at them and then tried again. It took some time for her vision to adjust to the dark. Someone moaned nearby. She could only make out a blurry shape, no details. She crawled over and whispered to it. "Hello. Are you alright?"

The shape moaned again.

Rukia placed a hand on it. There was a sticky substance on the person and it smelled horrible. It took a few moment for her to work out the familiar scent. It was blood! She withdrew her hand and gasped. After a deep breath, Rukia felt the wound. It was a large gash similar to her own. Rukia continued to use touch to see, as her eyes were not yet adjusted. She found something soft and her face went red. It was a breast.

The shape rolled over and sat up. "Who's there?!" she asked.

"My name is Rukia."

"Rukia?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"Rangiku, Matsumoto Rangiku."

Rukia was crushed as Matsumoto hugged her.

"What the hell is going on?! Some creep attacked me on my way to a captains meeting and then I wound up here!!" Matsumoto said shakily. Her breathing was ragged and shallow.

"Calm down Matsumoto. We'll get out of here! I promise!" Rukia put on a brave face and gazed around. As far as the eye could see it was all dark. There was no way of telling if they were inside or outside, and the ground felt like a mixture of sand and other materials.

"Where are we?!" Matsumoto asked.

"Not sure...I can't feel any reiatsu other than our own, so we may have been abandoned. Our attacker may have thought we were dead and dumped us here." Rukia frowned. She felt a strange sensation in her chest, like her heart beat was being controlled by some other person. It would skip beats and stop or speed up at improper times. Rukia placed a hand on her chest and gasped.

The shadows looked like they were moving. But as soon as they moved, they returned to inanimate darkness.

Rukia sighed and reached for her hip. She fumbled around the waistline of her uniform, searching for her zanpakuto.

_It's gone!!_

Matsumoto searched herself and she too, had her sword taken.

"Well, we have no choice but to try and get out of here. If our attacker is still here, then we don't want to face him unarmed!" Rukia crept along the sand, making crunching noises underfoot.

Matsumoto followed. Her eyes darted to and fro only to look at the same black distance in each direction.

Something snapped under Rukia's foot and she froze. A dull circle illuminated the area and a group of hooded warriors assembled before them. One wore a red cloak, the others all wore black. The one in red stepped forward, his blood-stained scythe dragging along by his side. One hand raised and the sleeve fell away to reveal what at first glance appeared to be a white glove. It took a few seconds for Rukia to notice it was no glove...It was bone! Pure white, cracked, dirty, exposed bone. The skeletal hand flexed it's fingers and then formed a fist with one finger stretched out. He was pointing at Rukia.

She backed away instinctively but then she found herself immediately walking towards him. The outstretched finger curled inwards beckoning her to come closer. She couldn't stop and her heart somehow retained a normal pace despite her erratic fear. She was possessed. She had no control over herself.

Her unwanted walk ended at the mans side.

"Rukia." The voice was booming and deep. The mans mouth was invisible beneath the shadows cast by his hood.

"What do you want?!" Rukia asked.

"A little favour...I want you to return to your shinigami friends and tell them that the war shall start soon!."

"War? What are you talking about?!"

"My, my. Have we been erased from the textbooks too? You shinigami must really despise us...but I suppose the feeling is mutual!" He clasped Rukia's chin in his cold bony hand. Even when he was standing next to her, Rukia could feel no reiatsu from these people. "We hate them just as much!" He whispered. His touch was unnatural and terrifying.

"We..." A female voice spoke from the crowd. One of them broke free from the group. They were skinnier than the others, which was quite unusual considering they were just bones. "...Are the reapers!"

"Reapers?" Matsumoto asked. A breeze passed along her shoulder and she turned to see one of them restrain her. Red eyes gleamed from under the hood.

The female reaper moved towards Matsumoto. "We were once called the Western shinigami."

"What? You mean you were..." Matsumoto began.

"Yes. We performed the duties of a soul reaper. We could slay hollow and protect the innocent souls in western countries. Different areas had different types of death gods. We took on this form whereas Japan adopted the weak samurai look." She spat on the ground, but there was no saliva, just blood. "You were too merciful! You thought we were extreme in our methods and decided to stop us. A war ensued and due to our lower numbers, we were banished and defeated."

Both captives frowned and Rukia lowered her head. "So. You wish to exact revenge by defeating shinigami?"

"Exactly! You shall drown in your own blood and choke on the corpses of your friends! We shall rule what should be ours!" The female reaper hacked into the ground and the scythe remained free standing in the dirt as she stepped away.

Rukia flinched as sand was swept up into her eyes and mouth. She coughed and doubled over. She was then knocked over. She did not expect the heavy blow from the scythe handle which was now held in both of red cloak's hands. "Dust cannot hurt you!! You shall become immune to pain from now on!!"

Rukia tried to talk but a totally different voice inside of her answered. "_**Yes master."**_ As the words left her mouth she began to cough and splutter. "What have you done to me?!"

"I have made you stronger. Tell me why you are stronger..."

"_**Because I am immune to all forms of pain." **_The unnatural voice answered again._** "I am the ultimate weapon. I shall slay all who oppose me." **_Rukia collapsed and retched.

The man in the red cloak laughed. "You have been reborn, little shinigami!"

*****

URAHARA SHOTEN

A black cat scratched it's little paws on the front door to the shop. The old wooden panels slid open and Urahara stooped down to pick up the cat. It hissed but still allowed itself to be carried inside. As the door closed, the cat leapt from Urahara's arms and to a cushion situated by low table. A cloud of smoke enveloped the area around the cat and when the smoke settled, Yoruichi sat naked at the table.

Urahara wore a wide grin which made Yoruichi go off to find clothes.

"I just remembered that I can't relax in front of you, otherwise you go all stupid over me." Yoruichi called from the other room.

Urahara attempted to answer but his voice cracked and turned to a high pitched croak.

"Seeing me in that state is the furthest you're going to get Kisuke! We're friends and that's as far as it goes!" Yoruichi returned in her black tights and orange top. "I found out about the mysterious abductions." She said while tying her purple hair back into a ponytail.

"Really? What is it?" Urahara asked.

"Well. Rangiku went missing at the same time as Rukia. Also, there were reports of a hooded man attacking a group of students from the shinigami academy. All turned up dead except for one of the instructors. The unfortunate victims were piled up and their blood was used to write a message saying that a war would start soon..."

"A war? Who could it be?" Urahara questioned with a hand on his chin.

"The reapers!"

Urahara's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "What?! They shouldn't exist!! Soul Society wiped them out three hundred years ago!!"

"Apparently not. I overheard the captain commander saying so." Yoruichi leaned back and sighed. "The reapers are mad and they want revenge on us. In short...we are doomed!"

"Their powers are legendary! Even their weakest warriors are captain strength! It looks like even we must return to fight. Benihime shall scream until her throat is sore!" Urahara unsheathed his sword from it's cane shaped scabbard.

Yoruichi nodded and reached into her boots. Her hand came out brandishing two small daggers. "We should warn Ichigo. He may just be our only chance to defeat the reapers!"

Just as they reached the door, they felt a chill run down their spines.

*****

KUROSAKI CLINIC

Ichigo held his head in his hands. He had lost Rukia and Orihime. Orihime had been his friend for years and his last moments with her were spent avoiding her. That was terrible, but the loss of Rukia was tragic. His insides felt torn and he hadn't stopped crying for hours now. Tatsuke had been calling non-stop, but he just ignored it. His family were nervous around him because they thought he would hit them. His life was ripped apart and then the pieces burnt to ash.

A light tap on the door startled him. He rose to his feet and wandered over. He opened the door and almost fainted.

It was Rukia! Cold, with dirty ripped clothes and scarlet stains on her chest, but still the girl he loved.

Ichigo hugged her and chattered frenziedly. Rukia just stood there.

"You look like nervous. Are you alright?"

Rukia looked up and smiled._** "Yes"**_

*****

Outside, the red cloaked reaper watched. He began to clap and his insane laughter echoed throughout the small town of Karakura.

"Soon..." He growled. His grip on his scythe tightened and his skeletal knuckles cracked. "Soon, darkness shall descend on this cursed town!"

You heard him, the war shall start very soon and there is nowhere to run, or hide! Who will win?

Find out in the next chapter!

I hope you enjoyed it. Please review. 


	5. Love and Hate

**4. Love and Hate**

KUROSAKI CLINIC

Ichigo was ecstatic about Rukia's return. He had been yelling excitedly for ten minutes without rest before he finally calmed down.

He led Rukia inside and they went upstairs to his room.

"I thought you were dead! That's why that's there..." He looked at a photo of Rukia which was surrounded by candles. Rukia's glove, which she used to separate Ichigo's shinigami form from his body, sat before the picture, the little skull glared at them.

"Is this...a memorial for me?" She was stunned. She never thought anyone would have cared if she were to die.

"I never stopped thinking about you!" Ichigo sat on his bed and patted the mattress beside him. Rukia sat down reluctantly and stared at the touching display on the table. The picture was of her own face, the deep blue orbs that were her eyes shone brilliantly. That girl seemed to not exist anymore. Now Rukia was only half of what she used to be...the other half would do terrible things to those she loved. She knew it would happen! She had been possessed by the reapers and now she could unwillingly attack her friends at any moment.

"Ichigo, I..." Rukia couldn't finish the sentence. Ichigo was gazing into her eyes and his hand slowly crept towards her leg.

"Ichigo...I..."

"I love you." Ichigo interrupted. His hand now caressed her thigh, but Rukia felt no pleasure from it.

She rose to her feet and ran to the other side of the room. Ichigo stared with a betrayed look in his eyes. Rukia felt guilt rise but then she convulsed and the feeling went.

"What's wrong?" Ichigo stepped forward.

"I'm sorry. It won't work! We can't do this!!" Rukia fought back tears and ran to the window.

"Why?! What is wrong with you?!" Ichigo outstretched his arms. "Nothing bad will happen! I will protect you always. That's a promise!"

"Please...Stay away from me..." Rukia opened the window and jumped out.

"Rukia!!" Ichigo followed. He dove out into the street and ran after her.

Rukia turned and involuntarily wiped away her tears. Then, by choice she extended a hand towards Ichigo. He continued to run to her, oblivious to her chanting.

"Rukia!! Wait!!"

"Binding spell 61..." Rukia closed her eyes and turned away. "Six-rod light restraint!"

Ichigo froze as the six beams of light struck him in the chest. He was paralysed afterwards and could only watch Rukia as she flash stepped into the distance.

"RUKIAAAAAAAA!!!"

*****

RUKONGAI DISTRICT 40

All was silent. Other than Zaraki Kenpachi's own footsteps there had been no noise for some time. His bells sang as his head swayed with each step. His awkwardly sharp teeth glistened in the bright sunlight.

Someone made an agonised groan and a loud splash followed. A woman's scream just began before the person was cut down. All the noise came from around the corner.

Zaraki sprinted over to the battle, but the assailant was already gone. He cursed and stomped on the dead woman's head. As he turned around to walk away, he overheard another scream. He dashed to the site and found only the corpses again.

"DAMMIT!!" Zaraki punched a hole clean through a cement wall to his left. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Come out come out, wherever you are..."

The air whistled as it was ripped apart by an oscillating scythe. Zaraki grinned and quickly deflected the blade.

A reaper appeared to catch it and then he growled at his opponent. "Strong. Maybe I'll have some fun!" The reaper assumed a fighting stance.

"My thoughts exactly!" Kenpachi swung his sword back. "But first...what's your name?"

"I don't really have one...but I am sometimes referred to as Skull."

"Skull? I could come up with a better one." Zaraki relaxed.

"Such as?" The reaper snarled.

"How about...Dead!!" Zaraki charged forwards and brought his serrated blade down on the reaper. The reaper blocked the hit and then pushed Zaraki back. The two eyed each other up and down and then charged. The two weapons clanged together and sparks rained down on them. Both weapons were locked together in a battle of strength. Zaraki thrust his foot into the reapers gut and then followed up with a volley of sword strikes.

The reaper struggled to dodge and block each hit and his gleaming red eyes burned with irritation. "Impressive! But this is not the limits of my strength!" Skull buried his blade into the earth and then began chanting.

Zaraki stared, his head cocked curiously. "What are you doing? Is this supposed to be some kind of kido or something?"

Skull continued to whisper in a deep voice. "...Destroy them...Skull reaper!!"

*****

PRISON CELL

SEREITEI

The words from the other day still left a bitter poison in Toshiro's bloodstream. The stung like acid. Each word was a separate blade burying itself into him. The vision of the captain commander emerging from the flaming wrath of hell, a sinister smile on his withered lips, just hidden behind his long grey beard. His mouth opened and then he spoke the fated words.

"_You threw away your title the moment you attacked me! Mercy in this case is...banishment from Soul Society!"_

He was to be stripped of his powers and sent to the real world. A fate that was almost worse than death. Toshiro was too badly wounded to possibly try and escape or fight for his freedom. His subordinate was still gone and now even Toshiro had given up hope. Every single thing he held dear was falling apart before him.

"I am a disgrace to the shinigami...I am so weak! I can't do anything right!! I am not worthy of a warriors death..." Toshiro looked down to his sword. Even the great Hyorinmaru, the strongest ice zanpakuto, could save him now. There was only one thing it could do.

Toshiro's mangled hands slowly lifted the blade. Ash still stained the blade from his fight with Yammamoto. Even Toshiro's haori was still speckled with red splotches and large tears which exposed scars beneath. Toshiro frowned at his bloodied and beaten reflection in the long thin katana. "Even the mighty dragon can succumb to defeat. Such a pitiful display. There is only one way of atonement for such a crime."

*****

Matsumoto and the female reaper stood outside the entrance to the prison. Matsumoto was partially relieved to be set free, but the prospect of war scared her. The shinigami had gotten lucky during the past battles with bounts and arrancar. But the winning streak had to come to an end some time!

"Your precious captain has been sent here for attacking the captain commander. We don't know what the punishment will be, but it will be a welcome distraction for our forces!" The female reaper

relaxed her grip on Matsumoto's arm and then left without another word. Matsumoto ran inside and gazed around at the small cells around her. She ran to each one, searching for Toshiro, her fallen captain.

She shrieked in frustration after finding another empty cell. Her search continued until she became distracted by a reflection of light further away down the hall.

*****

Toshiro turned the blade around so that the sharp edge faced him. It sent beams of light off into the distance as sunlight hit it. "I'm sorry Hyorinmaru...I'm sorry everyone...Matsumoto..." The blade drifted closer to his throat.

*****

Matsumoto paced towards the source of the light but the glare blinded her as she got closer. She could hear sobbing and somehow thought it was familiar. Her hands rose in front of her eyes to shield them from the glare. Her eyes darted back and forth and they finally settled on a small boy with white hair who held a sword just over his throat.

*****

Toshiro could feel the cold steel bite into his flesh. Warm blood dripped down onto his chest and haori. His eyes closed, making him oblivious to the woman sprinting towards him, her eyes wide with terror, mouth agape and her whole body quivering.

*****

"TOSHIRO!!! CAPTAIN STOP!!! PLEASE STOP!!!" Matsumoto tripped and fell. Her nose collided with the floor and sent waves of pain all over. She winced and then looked up at her captain, who had now begun to draw blood. She couldn't stand to look, but her gaze had set like stone. She was thankful when tears clouded her vision.

She took a deep breath and began to scream again. Her lungs burned and her throat ached but she kept on yelling.

_Please...please stop...I have something I needed to tell you! I...I love you Toshiro! Please live!! It wasn't meant to end like this!!_

*****

Toshiro smiled. He could hear Matsumoto speaking to him in the back of his mind. He thought it was all just a dream. Matsumoto couldn't possibly be outside the cell...she was dead! It was his mind trying to give him a last moment of happiness before he too lost his life.

"_Please stop!! Please captain!! I...I...I lo-_

Toshiro doubled over and dropped his sword. His mind cut off and everything went black.

*****

Matsumoto was speechless. She had just witnessed her captain take his own life. She never got to tell him about her feelings. She never got to say goodbye. Their last moments together were an argument about her being drunk. "Cap...tain..." She crawled forward and extended a hand to the unresponsive form of Toshiro.

"So sad."

Matsumoto rolled into a crouch and glared at the female reaper who was supposed to have left moments ago.

"I have decided to stay. So have a few of our brothers! The battle has already begun!" She cackled, a raspy grating sound which made Matsumoto cringe. "So long young shinigami. I'm afraid your fate shall be much more severe than that of your cowardly leader over there."

Matsumoto clenched a fist and sent a shot of red fire at the reapers head. The reaper flash stepped instantly and materialized beside her. Matsumoto gasped and used Shunpo to escape, but the reaper was unnaturally fast, beating her to her destination.

"Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!" Matsumoto asked just before she was kicked in the face.

"My name is blood. My intentions are to wipe shinigami out of existence so that we may rule over the dead! That is why you must die now!" Blood opened her hand and a burst of spiritual energy was released from her hand. It then formed the shape of a scythe.

Matsumoto reached for her hip but only remembered when it was too late, that her sword was taken after her abduction. Blood used the handle as a club and slammed it into Matsumoto's skull. Her brain stopped for a moment after the jarring blow. Blood prepared to strike again and Matsumoto tried to roll away, but as soon as she hit the ground, she stayed there.

Blood crossed her arms and spat. "Pathetic! Barely two hits and you are almost brain-dead! How could you possibly defeat hollow at such an inferior level of strength?"

Matsumoto gurgled and coughed, unable to respond properly. Her head still ached terribly and her scalp was bleeding, red liquid mixing into her blonde hair and running down her forehead.

"If you are a lieutenant, then your captain must be only a tiny bit stronger! Maybe I should test this..." Blood's hand went inside her hood and grasped her chin.

"Wha?" Matsumoto failed to form the word. Her eyes lazily rolled around in her skull.

"Maybe....maybe I should reunite you with your beloved captain. Should I?" Matsumoto was surprised to see that the question was addressed to her. Why would she revive Toshiro if she wanted to kill all shinigami? Despite her concerns, Matsumoto nodded and her eyes pleaded pitifully.

"Very well...Arise" Blood cackled as Toshiro twitched. Matsumoto stared in horrified fascination.

"How?! Shinigami cannot raise the dead!!"

"We are not shinigami! We are stronger, we are more powerful!! We are far superior to you in every way!! The only thing you do better than us is die!!"

Rangiku couldn't find words as Toshiro rose to his feet. His blood still dripped from the thin incision on his neck, but it seemed to have no affect. "To...shi...ro..." Matsumoto ran to his side and hugged him. She embraced him and was about to kiss him when he coughed violently. She stepped back and gave him some air before wrapping her arms around him again. She nestled her face in his chest. "Oh Captain Hitsugaya! I'm so glad you're back! I was so scared...I-" Matsumoto froze, her ear to his chest. She only just notice that there was no heart beat.

"Captain? Why aren't you- Oww!!" Toshiro's held her hand, but his grip felt like a vice, slowly crushing it. Rangiku looked into her captains eyes and gasped.

Only the whites of his eyes were showing! His blank stare was cold and unnerving.

Blood stopped laughing and flash stepped in front of them. "I should have warned you. He isn't the same anymore...He is my loyal puppet!"

"Puppet?!" Matsumoto was thrown to the ground and she glared at Blood.

"He is my servant now and he is invincible!!" She threw her head backwards and the hood fell away to reveal a dirty skull with straggly messy grey hair.

Matsumoto screamed and curled into a ball. "Captain, please? Please wake up!! Save me!!"

"Your captain no longer has a mind. He can't even feel pain! Look." Blood slashed Toshiro across the stomach and giggled when Toshiro barely moved, merely a step back. His eyes remained open and blank.

"What have you done to him?!!"

"I have made him the greatest weapon you shall ever face! You won't need a sword, even with one, you would only evade death for a little longer. Now go my little pet! Kill her!!"

Toshiro nodded and slowly limped forward.

*****

RUKON DISTRICT 40

A black haze fell over the area as dark reishi gathered around Skull.

Zaraki stared wide eyed. Skulls reiatsu had sky rocketed and Zaraki now seriously considered removing his eye patch. "The old man was right! These guys seem pretty tough!"

"Your arrogance shall disappear very soon! I shall slay you with ease now!!" Skull stepped out of the cloud of reishi and hefted his new weapon, a battle axe. His body was also now armoured and his hood gone, revealing his plain white skull.

"A face only a mother could love!" Zaraki sneered. "But just because your weapon changed doesn't mean jack shit! You won't convince me until we fight!"

Skull nodded and swung his axe in a circle. He kept spinning and gaining momentum before finally throwing the axe at Zaraki. Kenpachi hacked at the giant spinning blade and was thrown backwards into a wall. Somehow, he was unharmed. Skull caught his axe and stomped over to his foe.

"Even a captains might was not enough to deflect that! You shall die, insolent shinigami!"

"HA HA HA HA HA!!"

Skull growled and stomped on Zaraki to shut him up.

"Insolent?! That's rich comin' from you!!" Zaraki thrust his sword up into Skull's leg. He roared and leapt backwards.

"GRRR!! You bastard!! How dare you insult me!!" Skull sliced at the air and a shockwave was sent from the blades edge. The shockwave cut through the nearby building causing them to collapse and also connected with Zaraki, tearing his midsection apart. Skull then drove his blade into the ground causing a tremor in the earth. The debris from the buildings rolled into Zaraki and dust and rocks were hurled into his wounds.

Zaraki picked at the multitude of gashes in his torso and then straightened up. Skull glared angrily.

"What the hell?! How could you still be standing?!" Skull rushed at his enemy again.

"You are pathetic!" Zaraki blocked the next hit and then the combo which followed. Skull slashed furiously, his red eyes burned like tiny fires lit inside his head.

"Why?! Why wont you go down?!!" Skull roared as his axe buried itself into Zaraki's shoulder, just falling short of severing the arm. Zaraki went down on one knee for a few seconds before rising up again.

"Damn you!!!" Skull pushed the axe deeper. Dark blood sprayed his face and he licked at it with a black serpentine tongue. Zaraki began to laugh and the noise made Skull's eyes narrow.

"Ha ha ha!" Zaraki gripped the axe blade and forced it up out of his flesh. Skull glared at him. "Insolence? It was you all along! You were so confident, but you underestimated me! You fell into the trap!"

"Trap?"

"You thought this was my power at full! You were mistaken! I hadn't even achieved shikai yet!"

Skulls eyes narrowed. "What?!"

"Lucky for you though...I can't reach shikai! But I still hid my power!" Zaraki placed a hand on his eye patch and slowly slid it off. Skull stared at the healthy eye beneath.

"What the...Your eye is fine!" Skull pointed a bony finger.

"Exactly. This patch isn't for covering a wounded eye...Its to consume my reiatsu!" Zaraki laughed as his reiatsu increased to the point that the ground shook. Skulls eyes had narrowed so much that they looked like tiny red slits.

"That's insane!! No-one could be that strong without even releasing shikai!!" Skull backed away.

"I know! I'm too strong, so I had a device made to lower my strength to a level that would make fights more challenging for me...but you weren't strong enough to even beat me in my weakened state! I don't want to waste any more time so I'm just gonna end this now!!" Zaraki raised his sword and smirked when Skull began to flee. "There is..." Zaraki brought his blade down and a yellow blast of spiritual energy shot off towards Skull. "...NO ESCAPE!!!"

Skull roared as his body was incinerated. His dying moments were spent screaming like a wild animal. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Zaraki turned away and put his eye patch back on. His bells sang with pride at the death of the enemy. They also rang as they sensed someone coming.

Zaraki sighed and turned to catch a small pink haired girl who leapt down from a rooftop. She giggled when Zaraki caught her.

"Yay!! You smashed him didn't ya?" The small girl hopped about at the huge mans feet.

"Yes! Now be quiet!"

"Kenny killed him!! Kenny killed him!! Kenny-whoa!" The girl tripped on a rock and nearly fell onto a sharp fragment of debris. Zaraki swept down and lifted her away from the ruins and placing her on his shoulder where she hung down as if riding an animal.

"Oh, Kenny may look tough, but he's a softie!! You would cry if I got hurt, wouldn'tcha?"

"Shut up Yachiru!!" Zaraki swiped at her but Yachiru climbed around his wounded body, accidentally kicking at his injuries. "Dammit Yachiru!! Stop that!!" His huge hands finally grabbed her and put her back on the ground. Yachiru sulked and folded her arms. Zaraki simply ignored her and walked on, his mind was toying with one thing...

_If Yachiru were to ever get hurt...I can't even bare to think about it!! I must protect her from these reapers!_

*****

WORLD OF THE LIVING

CAVE

Rukia wheezed as she tried to catch her breath. She had run for quite some time, to ensure Ichigo wouldn't catch up. She couldn't face him with the possessed side of her still rampant.

_It couldn't last forever! It must only last for a little while and then wears off! I just need to wait until then! I hope Ichigo can forgive me..._

Rukia leaned back against the rocky wall and sobbed.

The war has begun and the Reapers have already lost one of their warriors! Toshiro is a zombie and is trying to hurt Matsumoto, the girl he loves...or loved. Also, Rukia has fled from her friends because she is afraid of her darker self! 

In the next chapter: The other reapers descend and bring chaos, death and destruction with them! Also, Matsumoto must fight her beloved captain! But will she be able to raise a hand against a loved one? Find out next time!!

Now please review! I know people are enjoying this because there were three favourites added in one day, but there are barely any comments! Please take the time to write a short review. It helps a lot more than you think it does.

_**REVIEW!!!**_


	6. Unleash Hell

**5. Unleash Hell!**

Please read and review! I know people are reading this but it doesn't help as much as a review does. So after reading this chapter, write a short comment. It will help a great deal.

SEREITEI

Soi Fon and her patrol group paced through the busy streets. Soi Fon sighed and leaned against a nearby wall. Her finger and thumb grasped the bridge of her nose.

"Damn it! We are going nowhere with this search! There is no trace of them! We have just been walking around in circles. They were probably scared off by our swift mobilisation. We shall finish the search here!" Soi Fon waved an arm at her men and they spread out and strolled around the buildings.

"Sir, we have secured the area. There is no signing of them." A tall ninja said while kneeling before his captain. Soi Fon nodded and scanned the area.

"Tell them to remain in position until I give further orders."

The ninja flash stepped into the distance bearing Soi Fon's message.

The captain remained against the wall, her eyes slowly scouting back and forth across her field of vision.

_I can't stand the waiting! Show yourselves!!_

Around the corner, a scout noticed a group of bright lights. There were four in a line and they were heading straight for him. Before he could move, they went straight through him. For a few moments it seemed like nothing had happened...until he fell into four pieces!

Cries of surprise and shock arose from his nearby comrades. One rushed over to his fallen friend but soon found his head divided into quarters.

The others prepared for battle. They failed to notice the reaper who suddenly appeared behind them.

"Take their lives, harvester!" The reapers scythe changed to a set of iron claws which extended two feet past his hands. The iron bars were flat except for the ends, which pointed downwards. He slit the throat of another scout before the group realised he was there. One ninja charged, but his life ended when his eyes were raked out with the claws. The reaper drew his arm back and then swung it out, releasing four small blasts of spirit energy. Two more scouts died, each one eviscerated by the attack.

The last remaining scout sprinted off screaming. "Captain Soi Fon!! The Reapers!!! They're here!!" His message fell on deaf ears. The scout collapsed as his legs were severed. He rolled onto his back and clawed at the earth trying to crawl. The reaper appeared above him, a cruel smile on his skinless face. The scout was about to scream, but it died in his throat when his arms were amputated.

"Weak...very weak! I sure hope the captains are a bit more challenging." The reaper sighed and then placed his claws on the scouts mouth. "Open." The guard refused and bit his lips just to keep them closed. "Fine...I shall open it for you!" The claws sliced through his lips like a knife through butter. The claws then ventured down his throat lacerating him on the inside.

The reaper smiled wickedly when the claws were deep inside the scout's throat. He then wrenched his hand out, splitting the mans neck and head apart. Blood sprayed out like a sickening shower, but it only made the reaper more excited. He laughed insanely and danced in the red shower.

Nearby, Soi Fon sensed the deaths of her scout group. She flash stepped to the scene of the violent attack. Her whole squad lay in ruins and in most cases, several pieces. Soi Fon cringed in disgust and gagged.

The reaper cocked his head and stared at Soi Fon.

"You bastard! This wasn't war, it was outright slaughter! You knew they were much weaker than you but you still butchered them! You shall pay for that!"

"Your uniform...Are you a captain?"

Soi Fon smiled. "Yes I am. Which means I am perfectly suited to defeating you!"

"You are quite confident in your abilities...May I ask...Are you part of the secret remote squad?"

Soi Fon nodded. "You did your homework before coming here didn't you?"

"Only on those who excel in speed. Among my kind, I am the master of stealth!"

"Well, isn't that funny. So am I. Maybe we should see who is better?" Soi Fon threw her haori aside leaving a shoulderless black kimono underneath. She then drew her short sword.

The two vanished.

They reappeared in the sky, both sending swift and aggressive attacks towards their opponent. Kicks flew around and steel clashed on steel and sometimes both at the same time. Their attacks were so fast, they were almost undetectable to the human eye.

Soi Fon had been dealt with several cuts on he arms and face, the reaper only had a few tears in his cloak. Soi Fon wiped blood from her mouth and eyed her opponent suspiciously.

_He's incredibly fast! But how can that be when he is wearing such a heavy and cumbersome cloak?_

She became too lost in thought, not seeing the kick aimed at her head. Her head snapped backwards and she felt a crack in her neck. She winced and fell to the ground, her arm broke on impact.

The reaper landed softly beside her, a cocky smile on his skull.

Soi Fon groaned and tried to get back on her feet. "Sting all enemies to death..." She muttered. "...Suzemabachi!" Her hand became engulfed in reishi which cleared away to reveal a gold and black gauntlet with a single claw on the middle finger.

"Interesting shikai...but will it be able to compensate for your injuries?" The reaper asked. The question ended when he was behind her, moving incredibly fast. Soi Fon only just managed to block the claw strike and she raised her forearm to block a high kick.

The two exchanged blows and again, Soi Fon's injuries were more severe than that of the reaper.

Soi Fon gasped for breath. She had been winded. Blood was flowing into her eye restricting her vision. The reaper on the other hand, only had his cloak slashed right up the middle. He sighed and discarded it. Underneath he wore nothing but bone.

Soi Fon stared at him.

_Shit!! Without that heavy cloak slowing him down, he'll be way too fast for me!_

The reaper flash stepped to Soi Fon's right and slapped her with the blunt top side of the claws. Soi Fon hurtled through a wall and into the small home it belonged to. She groaned as the reaper picked her up and drove her through a table. He repeatedly picked her up before throwing her into the walls and furniture. After six throws, Soi Fon's whole body was covered in blood. Small cuts and grazes and bruises adorned her flesh. She struggled to breathe and move.

The reaper laughed maniacally. "For a captain, you are weak! You are young and inexperienced! The powerful captains only existed hundreds of years ago. I bet you have barely been captain for over half a century!"

Soi Fon groaned in response.

"You want to know how long I've been a reaper?"

Soi Fon looked through the bloody haze that blurred her vision and wheezed.

"One thousand years!! Ten times more experience! That is why you were beaten so easily! You are just an ant in my shadow!!" The reaper laughed again.

Soi Fon muttered an incantation under her breath, hoping the reaper wouldn't notice. He seemed oblivious to it, even when she was finishing it off. "Blue fire crash d-" Soi Fon grunted as a skeletal foot stomped on her ribs.

"Just because my ears are gone does not mean I cannot hear!" The reaper glared into her eyes, his gaze alone hurt her.

She used his distracted state to slash his heels with Suzemabachi. He leapt back and stared at the crest which appeared on his leg. "What is this?"

"In a way, it is your death warrant..." Soi Fon murmured. " My zanpakuto has injected venom into your body. If I hit that same spot again, the dosage will be fatal." Soi Fon sat up and groaned.

"Clever. But your challenge is being able to get me again. Right now you can barely stand up!" He started to approach her again. "Basically, you are doomed, because I could kill you from here!" He stopped a short distance from Soi Fon.

Soi Fon hid her hands and wrestled with the claw, trying to remove it.

The reaper drew his hand back and stood silently.

Soi Fon's claw came undone.

_Perfect!! Now is my chance!!_

Soi Fon hurled the claw like a dart at her opponent. It bit into his shinbone, right on target and the crest glowed red.

_I did it!! I killed...him..._

The reaper remained standing. He tilted his head at Soi Fon and began to laugh.

_Why?! It hit on target!! Two strikes!! He should be dead!!_

"You are wondering why I am still alive, aren't you?" The reaper tore out the barb and showed her the unstained tip. "There is no bloodstream or flesh. You cannot poison bones young lady, and even if you injected poison, it will not spread, so the effect is minimal. That is why I am immune to your zanpakuto's poison. You on the other hand...are still susceptible to the venom!" The reaper threw it back at her and the barb stung deep into her shoulder.

Soi Fon shrieked and rolled around trying to pry the barb out.

"Lovely...I love the songs of agony...it is music to my ears!" The reaper flash stepped above Soi Fon, who still wailed loudly. "You have a lovely voice. Let me hear more." He gripped the barb and twisted it. The wound grew in size and the flesh around it twisted and ripped. Soi Fon screamed in pure agony. Tears flew from her eyes and her throat became hoarse.

"Beautiful!! More...More!! Sing for me!!" The reaper drove the barb deeper into her shoulder arousing more screams. He then yanked it out, relishing in the shower of fresh blood which splattered his face.

"That's one!"

Soi Fon only just noticed the flower shaped crest. The homonka looked like a four petalled flower with spikes pointing out from the tips. It became emblazoned on her shoulder just over the gaping wound.

"Remember...two strikes is fatal! You shall die by your own weapon! What a terrible fate!" The reaper raised the point over Soi Fon and he smiled. "Farewell captain...It appears that I truly am greater than you!" He laughed maniacally as he brought the blade down on Soi Fon.

*****

OUTSIDE PRISON AREA

Matsumoto yelped in pain as she was thrown through the wall and out into the courtyard. She climbed up another wall to get back up and then stared at Toshiro.

His body swayed lifelessly as he walked. His blank white eyes looked at nothing but everything at the same time. His sword gleamed in the sunlight. It was a brilliant weapon, and also the strongest of it's kind in soul society, it truly was a terrifying zanpakuto.

"Captain...Please snap out of it!! This isn't right!! Please stop..." She begged through a flood of tears. "Please?" Matsumoto reeled from a heavy slap. She stepped back and failed to see Toshiro's next move. Toshiro kicked her in the gut and then spun around in a low sweeping kick which knocked her down.

Toshiro grabbed Matsumoto's hair and slammed her head into the ground again and again.

As her life began to slip away, Matsumoto remembered her great times with her captain.

"_Captain...are you drunk?" Matsumoto giggled. _

_Toshiro lay slumped on a couch, a bottle of sake rolling about on the floor. "No...I'm perfectly fine."_

_Matsumoto sniffed the air. "Well, someone was drunk in here...and don't think it was me because I have been sober for a week now!"_

"_It was-" Toshiro hiccupped and then burped. He fell back into the cushions and sank into the couch._

"_You are drunk!! Oh that's so cute!" Matsumoto ran over and hugged him, ignoring his loud cursing and yelling. _

A scramble of memories flashed by before another flashback occurred.

_Matsumoto felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around and almost head butted her little captain. He held in his hands, a little parcel wrapped in white ribbon. _

"_What's this?"_

"_A present. Happy birthday Matsumoto!!" Toshiro smiled sweetly and his green eyes sparkled._

"_Oh, thank you!!" Matsumoto planted her lips on Toshiro's and she kissed him briefly. When she pulled away, Toshiro's face was bright red. He grinned sheepishly and averted his gaze._

_Matsumoto laughed and opened the parcel. A small card lay inside. She quickly read over it and sighed. "I've never seen this side of you before! It's so sweet!" Her hands dug deep into the parcel until she retrieved a pink scarf._

"_It's...beautiful." She looked into __Toshiro's__ eyes and the two smiled warmly at each other. "I promise, I'll wear it every day!!" She hugged him but had to stop when she was alerted to the fact that she was crushing him. _

After that memory, she found herself reliving her first meeting with him.

"_I wonder what he looks like..." She grasped her chin and looked out the window into the clear blue sky. "I hope he's good looking."_

_A knock came at the door and the shadow cast by feet was apparent from underneath the door. Matsumoto bounded over and almost tore the door from it's hinges. The door flew aside revealing a tiny boy with silver hair wearing a haori._

_Matsumoto stared at him for some time before bursting into laughter. "Oh my god!! This has to be a joke! Ha ha ha! They dressed a little kid in captain clothes! That's so funny!"_

"_This is no joke!" The little boy snapped in a deep authorative tone. "I am captain Toshiro Hitsugaya."_

"_Oh..." Matsumoto calmed down and smiled...just before she broke into hysterical laughter. _

"_Stop it!!" Toshiro growled, his small face glowing red._

_Matsumoto doubled over and began to cry. "This has to be a dream!! This isn't real!!"_

_Toshiro sighed and drew his sword. He flash stepped in front of her, blade hovering above her throat. "Are my skills disappointing to you? Despite my appearance, I am a capable officer. It is a shame that the same can't be said for you!"_

_Matsumoto frowned. "You're pretty nasty for a kid."_

"_I am not a kid!!"_

Matsumoto smiled as her face again slammed into the now red and slippery ground.

_Memories...Such a fun ride...and now it ends..._

The grip on her hair relaxed and she slumped down against a wall. Her eyes drifted up to the blank white orbs set into Toshiro's head. "Captain...I had so much fun. I enjoyed every second under your command."

Toshiro made no response other than reaching for his sword.

"Before I die...I just wanted to say...That...I-"

She gasped as Hyorinmaru impaled her. Matsumoto's eyes widened until they almost fell out of her head. Her jaw dropped and a trickle of blood flowed down from the corner of her mouth. Within seconds, it turned to a torrent. Her head went limp and fell onto Toshiro's shoulder. She took deep ragged breaths and with her last deposits of strength, wrapped her arms around him.

"I forgive you...Because...I...Love you..." She swayed on her feet and then collapsed.

As her blood spread in a wide pool around him, Toshiro's eyes cleared and the emerald green returned. His gaze immediately focused on Matsumoto and her limp form...that and the blood stains on his hands.

"What have I done?! Matsumoto?! MATSUMOTO!!" Toshiro scanned the area for any sign of the reapers, but all he saw was the advancing group of shinigami...led by Shigekuni Yammamoto Genryusai!

*****

Suzemabachi swung down, it's deadly stinger aimed at it's master, a bloodied and beaten Soi Fon. She stared at her zanpakuto as it neared her wounded shoulder, which was decorated with a homonka. Her scream died in her throat and all she could do was watch as the tip contacted her skin. She felt it press down on her flesh, but never penetrate. Soi Fon blinked and the attacker who stood before her was gone, only a cloud of dust.

"Looks like I made it in time!" The voice was soothing and familiar. A dark figure stood over her. The person had dark skin and purple hair tied in a ponytail.

"Is that you...Yoruichi?" Soi Fon groaned.

"Rest now. You have been badly wounded. I shall take over from here." Yoruichi placed a hand on her friends shoulder.

Soi Fon felt a strange emotion as the slender dark hand touched her. She felt a warmth like that of a raging fire and also a sense of safety. She couldn't help but smile. Yoruichi turned to leave, but Soi Fon grabbed her hand and stared with pleading eyes. "Please stay a little while longer..."

"I will come back when I take care of your assailant. Until then, stay here and rest!" Yoruichi attempted to leave but again Soi Fon stopped her.

"Please don't get hurt! He is incredibly fast!"

"Don't worry. Remember my nickname? I am the goddess of flash!" Yoruichi disappeared before Soi Fon could snatch her hand again.

The reaper grunted and knocked away the rubble that covered him. "You bitch! Where are you?!"

"Right here!" Yoruichi appeared behind him. He instinctively slashed behind himself but Yoruichi escaped stealthily.

"Hmm. You seem stronger than the other one...Are you another captain?" The reaper queried.

"I was banished just like you! We both experienced the same thing, but there is no need to do this! There is no reason for war right now!"

"Of course there is! You are a useless burden! We can manage your job ourselves."

"Then do it! But do not take innocent lives. Do not attack us shinigami."

"Are you joking? It is not about wanting your job!! This is about revenge!! You stole everything from us...our rights...our lives...our home!! Now it is time to take everything back!!" The reaper clenched his fists and studied the iron spikes jutting out from his wrist.

"Revenge is for cowards! Don't dwell on the past, ignore it!" Yoruichi yelled.

"NO!" The reaper vanished and reappeared in the same spot. Yoruichi stared curiously. It appeared that he had flash stepped to the exact same spot...but why? The reaper performed the strange manoeuvre again, disappearing and materializing instantly in the same area.

"What are you doing? Is this a demonstration of your speed? Because if it is...Then I shall show you true speed! Prepare yourself!" Yoruichi flash stepped around the reaper so fast that he could not keep up with her. He whirled around frantically searching for her, but to no avail. She finally appeared above him, her twin daggers brandished in each hand.

The reaper smiled instead of showing fear.

_Isn't he afraid to die?! He truly is a monster!!_

She swung her arms down but had to stop as waves of pain stung at them. She clumsily left an opening in her side and the reaper slashed her across the hip. She fell to the ground and landed roughly on her back.

_What was that?! Why did my arms hurt?_

Her eyes wandered over her arms and she found a series of gashes on each arm. Her eyes narrowed and she stared in shock.

_When did he get me?! I never felt...it..._

She suddenly realised what had happened.

_The reaper vanished from sight and raked his claws across her left arm. He then flash stepped back to his original spot before Yoruichi could even register his movements._

_He then repeated the move with her other arm._

"What were you saying about true speed?" The reaper strolled up to her, a wide grin on his fleshless face. "You know nothing about speed! You may be more experienced than that captain over there, but you are still a long way behind me! Now, I shall take your head before you can even blink!"

"Stalk, Shadow Cat!"

Yoruichi became enveloped in a purple aura and her daggers changed from simple, straight edged blades. One changed to a jet black blade which curved in a slight 's' with the point facing outwards. A small talon jutted out from the bottom of the ridged handle. The other dagger's blade was black but with a flaming pattern of silver along the edge. This blade's 's' curve pointed inwards. A metal cat formed the handle. The two shining black daggers looked far more fearsome than their previous forms.

The reaper grinned. "Quite impressive looking weapons...but a shiny black blade won't effect the fact that I am superior in speed!" He used Shunpo and reappeared to Yoruichi's left. She elbowed him in the face before slashing his arm.

"You are incredibly fast and also quite strong. But You must remember that a zanpakuto release does more than change the shape of the sword. You are no longer too fast for me. I shall end this now!" Yoruichi crossed her daggers and stepped forward.

*****

WORLD OF THE LIVING

Ichigo trudged through a muddy dirt track in the middle of a forest. He was certain he had sensed Rukia's reiatsu somewhere around here. He knew of a cave further along the track and was trying to get there, but the recent rains had made the track slippery and treacherous. A harsh wind made the leaves rustle. Ichigo knew it was just the wind, but the noise still made him instinctively turn around to check he wasn't being followed.

His pants were stained with wet mud up to the knees and his hands were covered in small cuts and splinters from constantly brushing away low-hanging branches.

The trees whistled behind him.

_It's just the wind...just the wind..._

Ichigo repeated the sentence over and over in his mind, but it did little to help lower his fears. The noises were unnerving, but the that was more terrifying, was what happened to Rukia. She was running from something Ichigo couldn't understand.

"_I don't want you to get hurt!! Just stay away from me!!"_

Her words haunted him. Something horrible was happening and Ichigo knew he had to protect Rukia from it...whatever it was...

The leaves rustled again and a flock of birds screeched and flew away.

_Wind! Just wind! You're the only one out here!!_

A twig snapped behind him and he shrieked. Ichigo lost his footing and tripped into the murky brown puddle at his feet. His wide eyes darted around searching the forest for others. He found nothing and sighed.

Another twig snapped and he felt it on his left hand. He jerked and yelled again, until he realised he had snapped the twig himself when he leaned back. Ichigo placed a dirty hand on his chest and gasped. "I'm going to have a heart attack over nothing..."

The wind brushed hair into his face and he cursed.

Then the leaves rustled again...after the wind had passed. Someone was there with him!

Ichigo slowly craned his neck to see a shining piece of steel. It was a curved blade from a scythe. The scythe had a blue blade which curved almost into a semi-circle. A small hooded figure wielded the weapon despite it being taller than her.

Ichigo rolled away from a low slice and then jumped over a follow-up strike. "Who are you?!" Ichigo roared. He fished into his pocket to find his combat pass, but it was gone.

_Shit!! It must have fallen out of my pocket!! Where is it?!_

Ichigo scanned the flowing mud puddle for the badge, but there was no sign. Ichigo only just ducked under an overhead swing from the blue scythe. Ichigo cursed and slipped into the murky water again. The scythe came bearing down on him but he rolled away just in time, but as he dodged it, the water splashed into his eyes and mouth. He spluttered and coughed while wiping at his eyes, but that did no good.

The reaper stomped on him and held him in place.

_NO! I can't die!! Not now!! I need to help Rukia!_

The scythe shone brilliantly. It sang as it cut through the air on it's way down into Ichigo's skull.

_I'm sorry Rukia..._

The scythe was only a few centimetres from his face.

Eight...

Seven...

Six...

Five...

Four centimetres from his face!

Three!! Ichigo could feel the air being cut apart .

Two!!

It stopped! It hovered in mid-air, just over his head. Ichigo couldn't breathe. His heart had stopped and he was on the verge of passing out. The blade moved away and the hooded figure made a strange noise that sounded strangely familiar.

Ichigo's head rolled to one side and his eyes closed.

It was then in his last conscious thoughts before he passed out, that he recognised the sound. It was weeping. His attacker must have had a change of heart and began to cry...but why would they do that?

Ichigo pried his eyes open to get a better look at his attacker, but they were gone already...

Chaos!! Utter chaos!! Soi Fon barely survived her encounter with the reaper who now faces the Goddess of flash...Yoruichi! Toshiro has broken free from the twisted spell of Blood, but now he must face the captain commander! Also, the reapers have attacked the real world as well!

What shall happen next?! Be patient and find out in the next chapter!

_**REVIEW!!!**_


	7. Dragon vs Dragon

**6. Dragon vs. Dragon**

_**PLEASE REVIEW!!**_

SEREITEI

COURTYARD

Toshiro looked up from his blood-stained hands to the group of captains. Then back to his hands and back up to the advancing shinigami, especially the leader of the group...the captain commander, Shigekuni Yammamoto Genryusai! His small eyes glared and his spiritual pressure rose to a level that could kill a weaker shinigami.

"Former captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. You have spilled innocent blood! For such a severe crime, I must remove your powers and banish you from Soul Society! Do not resist, we have you outnumbered and far outmatched!"

Byakuya Kuchiki and Sajin Kommamura stood beside the old man as he spoke, their gazes trained on Toshiro.

"This is all a mistake! It is not as you think!" Toshiro pleaded. He fell to his knees causing a splash in the ever growing pool of crimson water.

"That excuse won't work with the evidence before us! We witnessed you attacking her! We watched the whole thing!" Genryusai snarled.

"What?! You just watched?! Why didn't you stop me?!" Toshiro felt his hatred of the captain commander rise, boiling his blood and consuming him. "If you saw the whole thing then you would have seen me die! Something resurrected and possessed me!"

"Fool!" Byakuya closed his eyes and stepped forward. "Resurrection is impossible! Not even that human girl could do that!"

"But-"

"Face your fate, Toshiro! Don't disgrace yourself further." Sajin growled. His wolfen eyes shone a vibrant yellow. He made a frown which also revealed his sharp teeth.

"Please help Matsumoto! She needs help!!" Toshiro turned away from them and cradled her in his arms.

"Get away from her!" The captain commander rasped, his beard shaking frenziedly as he talked.

"Forget about me! Just...save her..." Toshiro cradled his head in his hands and sobbed. The others watched with a mix of disgust and curiosity.

"Captain commander, shall I call for fourth squad?" Sajin looked over to the frozen old man. He glared at Toshiro while addressing Kommamura's question.

"No."

Kommamura's large lupine eyes widened in astonishment. "But she has committed no crime...she must be tended to!"

"She shall stay where she is...Her death shall be a fitting punishment for the traitor!" The last word was spat with such venom it made Toshiro wince.

"You heartless monster!!" Toshiro roared. "You are even lower than a hollow!! You don't deserve your rank!"

"Neither do you. Maybe we can settle this once and for all?" Yammamoto lifted his sword and held it in front of his face. "May the victor continue to live here in Soul Society, and their rank remain."

"And the loser shall be dismissed from their rank and life!" Toshiro drew his sword from Matsumoto's stomach. He then gently kissed her cheek. "I shall win for you. I wont let you die!" He whispered in her ear. Her mouth twitched a tiny bit.

"Very well." Toshiro straightened up and twirled his sword in a threatening display. "I accept! Just you and me!"

"Leave!" Yammamoto told his companions without looking away from Toshiro.

Byakuya and Kommamura did as told and flash stepped away.

"May I take Matsumoto somewhere safe?" Toshiro had already picked her up before the question was over. He then disappeared without waiting for a response. He stopped outside the infirmary and knocked on the wall outside before departing. A nurse peeked out the window and saw Matsumoto. She screamed and then yelled at the others who helped drag her inside.

Toshiro returned to the courtyard, an expression of pure hatred in his dragons eyes. Yammamoto returned the gesture with his small beady orbs of fire which burned with contempt. "Dragon against dragon. This shall be interesting!"

""Fire versus ice, good versus evil. Call it whatever you want! It wont stop me from killing you Shigekuni Yammamoto Genryusai!!" Toshiro used Shunpo to get behind the old man. His sword sliced through the air and connected with the scabbard of Yammamoto's sword. While the scabbard held Toshiro's sword at bay, the old man took the opportunity to draw his sword and hack at the young prodigy's midsection.

Toshiro leapt back and stared at the spray of blood.

_What is going on?! I should be in pain right now!! I can't feel anything?!_

Yammamoto flash stepped to his side and unleashed a set of strikes, each one barely dodged by Toshiro. Sliced horizontally and his blade caught that of his opponent. "Sit upon the frozen heavens...Hyorinmaru!" A blast of ice caught the captain commander by surprise.

Toshiro knew he would escape in seconds, so he drove his blade into the ice and at the captain commander's head! The ice shattered and Yammamoto jerked his head to the side. The blades tip sunk into his cheek and made a deep gash into his face.

"Just another scar!! That won't stop me!" Yammamoto unleashed a shot of red fire without even using an incantation, only a point of his finger. Toshiro deflected it with a powerful sword thrust and then dashed forward to counter-attack.

The captain commander anticipated the movement and ducked to the side where he found a hole in the young shinigami's defence. He jabbed his zanpakuto into his side and then wrenched the blade out with a smile of satisfaction.

Toshiro choked on the blood that bubbled up into his throat, but still he couldn't feel pain. The wound was completely numb.

Genryusai noticed the odd occurrence and his eyes narrowed. "How can you not feel such wounds?!"

"I don't know!"

*****

Blood spied on the two combatants from a distance. "Do not fear little puppet. I have given you the strength to kill that old fool! Now fight!" She cackled and threw her hands to the skies. "I don't even have to lift a finger! He will exterminate his own kind for me!!"

*****

Toshiro stared at his wounds. "I can't feel anything! What is happening to me?!"

"I don't care if you are oblivious to pain! You can still die!!" Yammamoto back-handed the smaller man and sent him hurtling into a wall. He then flash stepped over to where Toshiro lay and then kicked him in the ribs. Toshiro made no sound as he was thrown about and beaten senseless.

"So...I must use more effort to kill you then. So be it! Turn all creation to ash...Ryujin Jakka!" The long katana's blade became engulfed in flames.

Toshiro watched the glowing flames that wrapped themselves around the blade, like burning vines around a steel tree. The menacing weapon swung down towards him and he felt something tick in the back of his mind.

"_I won't let you die just yet!"_

A female voice whispered harshly in his mind.

The blade crashed down and a sea of flames swept over the whole area. Genryusai laughed and inhaled the fire. "Ha! Not even a captain of your strength could survive that! I- What?!"

Toshiro had caught the blade with a bare hand, the blade embedded into his palm. His whole body was veiled in shadows cast by the firelight, the only thing visible were the icy, silver tips of his hair and the blazing green serpents eyes. The gaze burned straight through the captain commander. Yammamoto stepped back and lowered his sword.

"How?! That is not possible!!"

"I am Toshiro Hitsugaya...And my blade is the great dragon of ice, Hyorinmaru! Together we are unstoppable, and together we shall slay the wicked! We shall be granted victory and our enemies head shall be carried in our hands!"

"Grrrr!! Insolence! Stand down!!" Yammamoto roared.

"It is too late for that! We both accepted the challenge...winner takes all...the loser forfeits his rank...and his own life! I will not back down until your black heart finishes it's final beat!!" A blue aura grew around him as he spoke. It eventually took on the form of a great dragon which towered over the two opponents and reached into the skies.

"Are you afraid Shigekuni Yammamoto Genryusai?" Toshiro growled.

The ancient man grunted and spat to his side. "I have never feared death in my many centuries of life! I will not start now!" The captain commander's reiatsu increased and the flames raged with more intensity. "Are you forgetting that Hyorinmaru isn't the only dragon here..." Yammamoto thrust his zanpakuto at the sky and the flames gathered into the form of a great dragon. The two beasts hissed and roared at each other, as their leaders stared coldly at each other.

"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!" All screamed in unison.

*****

From her position, blood could see the huge dragons charge at each other. They towered over the buildings and made the world look small and insignificant.

"What is this?! I can't control that boy anymore! He must have rejected the spell somehow!" Her glowing eyes scanned the area as a great shockwave turned the buildings to ash and dust. "This power! It is truly that of the gods of death!"

"What?"

Blood whirled around and almost fainted. The red cloaked reaper floated in the air and drifted softly to the ground.

"Grim?! What are you doing here?!" Blood backed away from her leader and bumped into something. She craned her neck to see grim right behind her. Her eyes darted back to his original spot which now was empty.

"You did well."

"Oh, you scared me! I thought-" Blood was interrupted by a scythe severing her arm. A black tar-like substance spilled out. She gasped and fell back, stumbling on her own cloak and falling.

"I will not tolerate betrayal!" Grim snarled. He raised his scythe, the blade shaped like a black and red dragon skull, it's serrated fangs forming a barbed cutting edge. The spikes at the back of the skull were wrapped in chains and smoke rose from the intimidating weapon. Three small horns ran along the top edge and a talon jutted out from the bottom of the dragons jaw. A clawed hand made up the bottom of the staff which was made of rotted brown/red wood.

"I would never-"

"Listen carefully blood!" Grim's eyes burrowed into her and made her paralysed. "This is a warning! If I ever hear so much as a hint of possible deception, then your head shall be ground to powder! Am I clear!"

"Yes sir..." Blood waited for him to go before curling into a ball and crying. Her tears were formed from the same dark tarry fluid which bled from her amputated arm.

*****

Yoruichi glared at the reaper before her. His glowing little eyes focused on her shikai, a duo of vicious looking daggers, one with a 's' bend blade pointing inwards, the other pointing out. Yoruichi crossed the two blades and closed her eyes.

The reaper took this as a chance to attack and rushed to her, his clawed hand swinging out behind him. As he came within two steps from her, she vanished...only to materialize above him. The reaper dodged the first strike, but the second landed on his arm, cracking the bone. He slashed Yoruichi's back and then kicked at her face, but she had rolled out of the way. The two exchanged swift, yet powerful strikes in extensive combinations. Sparks flew constantly as steel met steel in a violent confrontation. Mixed into the flurry of slashes and scratches were various kicks and punches.

The two managed to dodge and block many of the attacks which happened so fast that they were almost imperceptible. Yoruichi's daggers danced wildly at such a speed that they created mirages.

The two landed heavy blows to each other and both became badly wounded. Yoruichi's left hand shook as a red waterfall cascaded down from a deep cut in her upper arm. Her back had a gory pattern of lines carved into it. A scratch under one eye trickled with stray droplets of blood. The front of her uniform was torn in various places, revealing her dark flesh underneath. Her stomach had been slashed and a deep wound made her wheeze and gasp for breath.

The reaper had a fragment of his jaw removed and a large crack ran down the side of his skull. One hand was twisted and broken and one of his legs had been severed to the knee. He floated just above the ground to compensate for the missing limb and then removed the useless arm.

"A worthy opponent." The reaper murmured. A black liquid bled from his wounds. It smelled terrible and maggots festered among the black soup. "I have never sustained an injury this severe before!"

"That's not surprising. You are very powerful. It's just a lucky coincidence that I was here, otherwise Soi Fon would have been slain." Yoruichi wiped a trail of blood from her mouth and cheek.

"Well then..." The reaper moved behind her and drove his claws deep inside her back. "...Maybe we should end this!" Yoruichi gasped and slowly, shakily craned her neck around to see him. Her amber coloured eyes were wide and terrified and her jaw had dropped. Her whole body trembled and her feet slipped out from under her. The world spun around and patches of darkness stole from her vision.

"Goodnight, shadow cat!" The reaper drew his claws out and let Yoruichi drop to the ground, her head slamming into a rock. "Your strength was impressive, but I have still endured this torment of life three times longer than you have!" The reaper wrapped his wounds in makeshift bandages made from Yoruichi's clothes. He stared at her half naked body and smiled. "I guess that weakness is the price of beauty..." He then vanished, leaving only a hideous, bug-infested pool behind him.

*****

Toshiro closed his eyes and listened to the humming chorus of killing intent emanating from his sword. A great blue dragon towered over him, as tall as a skyscraper and as long as a river.

Yammamoto stood with his own mighty dragon, forged from the vengeful flames that inhabited his zanpakuto. The flaming beast spread it's immense wings and the sun disappeared behind a red eclipse.

Toshiro's blue dragon rose on it's back feet and roared. It's fangs were even larger than Kommamura, the huge fox man. The two serpents glared at each other and roared in unison. The sound made windows cave in and small structures to collapse.

All of Soul Society stopped as the great battle cry rose from the great beasts.

"Prepare yourself old man!! This is WAR!!!" Toshiro stabbed at the sky and the dragon surged forward. To some watching at a distance, it appeared as if the sky was moving. Genryusai's dragon crawled forward and the two reiatsu clashed in a fearsome explosion which threw the two opponents far from each other. The sky rained ash and ice as the two dragons exploded on impact. A huge portion of Soul Society became reduced to a steaming crater.

Almost all of the shinigami appeared at the base of the crater, thousands of eyes searching for the source of the destructive blast. As the smoke cleared, the two foes continued their stand off. Their eyes sent messages more terrible than anything that could be spoken.

"Your skills are worthy of the gods young one. You were always the weaker of the other captains, but today, you have shown a strength that I doubt even Ukitake and Kyouraku could posses."

The word posses made Toshiro flinch. It was then that the pain set in from before. Every flake of skin was a new wave of pain, throbbing inside his head. He dropped his sword and began to stagger.

"You have used the last of your strength. The battle is over now!"

"NO! I swore I would kill you!! I can still fight! Bankai!! Daigyuren Hyorinmaru!!" Toshiro's blade released a small amount of reishi and a small aura enveloped the blade, but the Bankai never formed. "What?!"

"You have drained your spiritual energy. You can barely keep your shikai active in your current state!"

Toshiro wanted to deny it but he witnessed his blade return to it's normal state with no aura, no ice, just plain steel. "No...Even with everything I had...It was nowhere near enough...Matsumoto...I'm sorry."

Genryusai limped forward, his body was badly singed from the blast. His beard had turned black from the ash and parts were burnt off.

"Very well...I accept defeat. Banish me if you must!" Toshiro raised his hands in surrender.

"Banish? I don't think so! Remember the rules of the challenge. The loser must forfeit his rank...and his life!" Genryusai raised his sword and shut his eyes. Instantly, flames leapt around the blade and his body. "I shall make your end quick, but the pain shall last even after you pass into the shadows!"

"I can't die!! I...I can't!!" Toshiro begged.

"I do not care for weaklings who beg for their lives. Mercy only goes to those who deserve it!"

"But before you said that my strength surpassed that of your own students!!"

"I did, but that does not mean a thing when the power is used against me! Now bow your head in shame and say farewell to the world."

Toshiro did as instructed and knelt by his sword, his head lowered and his gaze to the dirt.

"I shall send Matsumoto your head as a reminder of you." The sword swang down and the flames crackled hungrily, eager to feast on the defeated young captain.

Blood splattered over the dirt and onto the two combatants. The warm red fluid signified death and the crowds around the crater gasped and screamed in shock.

The two foes remained standing. Toshiro fell first. He bled profusely from many wounds all over his body. His eyes still stared wide open and his teeth became stained with red. His reiatsu fell drastically until it could no longer be felt.

"Captain Hitsugaya!! He's dead!! He's dead!!" A young female shinigami shrieked. Two bystanders approached her and dragged her from the scene.

The captains all flash stepped down to their captain commander who still hadn't moved an inch since the final strike.

"Poor Toshiro-kun. It never should have come to this!" Ukitake stooped down and closed the young mans eyes.

"Captain Commander, what shall we do with him?" Asked Byakuya Kuchiki. "Captain Commander?!" Byakuya made a step towards the old man before he collapsed.

"Master Genryusai!!" Ukitake and the others crowded around him. Kyouraku brushed the ancient warriors beard aside and found a blood slick handle sticking out from a still bleeding wound. With a grunt of effort, he pulled the blade out and found it to be snapped in half. All eyes fell on the hilt, the design of which only belonged to one person...

Toshiro Hitsugaya!

Did Toshiro win? Is he really dead? How will Matsumoto feel when she hears the news? Will Yoruichi and Soi Fon survive their encounter with a Reaper?

All will be revealed in the next chapter!! Don't miss it!!

Now, seriously..._**REVIEW!!! DO IT!! **_


	8. Distrust and Deceit

**7. Distrust and Deceit**

WORLD OF THE LIVING

CAVE

Rukia awoke to the sound of screaming. The noise was hauntingly familiar...

She crawled to the entrance of the cave, but on her way, she felt something soft. It was crusted in mud and was damp. She dragged it with her to the light and found herself screaming as well. The cloth was actually a cloak and nearby, leaning against a rock was a shining blue scythe.

"What is all this?!" Rukia backed away and almost slipped on the wet mud outside. Out in the clear air, the other persons screams were easier to make out. It was a male voice.

"Rukia!! Rukia!!! Help me!!"

Her eyes shot wide open at the sudden realisation of the mans identity...

"Ichigo..." In a flash, she remembered her attempt to kill him and her fortunate decision to stop herself in time.

_I hurt him...I told him not to follow me but he did! And now he is in pain!! It's all my fault!_

"Rukia!! Please!! Help me!!"

Rukia grappled with the decision but her answer became clear when she heard a strangled gasp coming from Ichigo's position. "Ichigo? Are you there?" She carefully climbed down to the edge of the forest where the trees were swaying as something brushed them aside.

"Ichigo?"

The person approaching her was only a few metres away now.

"Hello? Ichigo? Are you okay? Answer me!"

The trees stopped moving and everything went silent.

"Ichigo!" Rukia burst through the bush cover and froze. Ichigo lay sprawled on the ground, his head bleeding from a nasty looking wound at the back of his skull. "Oh my god!! What happened?! Who did this?!"

"How is life for you my little pet?"

Rukia couldn't breathe. Her lungs shrivelled and her heart refused to beat again. She wanted to scream, but her body was no longer under her control.

"I'm sorry, but I felt like finishing the job for you. I saw you run from your duties!" Grim ran a hand along Rukia's shoulder and she felt bile rise in her throat.

"That was a terrible mistake. The last person who betrayed me wound up without this!" Grim reached inside his cloak and retrieved a bony arm. He scowled at the limb and then hurled it into the trees. "I do not take kindly to those who can't obey orders!!"

Rukia had never been this afraid in her entire life. Sweat poured down her face like a waterfall and her eyes leaked stinging tears. Her whole body trembled and her muscles ached for no reason. Her whole body was affected just by him running a finger over her shoulder. Thankfully, Grim was controlling her, because if not, she knew she would have wet herself and screamed until she was hoarse.

"You displease me! You are not worthy of my time and effort...So I have decided to end this pathetic little escapade now!" Grim spread his hand out above the ground and his dragon skull scythe materialized into his palm. He clasped his finger s down on the handle and then drove it into the ground so that it would stand unassisted.

"Please...I had nothing to do with your previous battles with shinigami! Why are you punishing me for the actions of those from the past?!" Rukia felt incredibly weak and struggled to remain upright.

"It was your kind who drove us to near extinction! Whether you were directly involved or not does not concern me!" Grim flipped back his hood and showed her his dirty, dull fleshless face. His glowing red eyes glared at her from deep inside the abyss that was his eye sockets. "My suffering shall only end when shinigami disappear once and for all!!"

"But-"

"No more talk!! Your fate has been sealed!" Grim snatched up his scythe and vanished.

Rukia looked around in a frenzy, desperately searching for Grim. For some reason, he had not reappeared. Rukia tilted her head and scanned the forest nervously. After waiting for a few minutes she deduced that it was safe and rushed to Ichigo's side.

*****

Grim dusted himself off and shot an angry glance at the intruder who had interrupted his work. It was a man in a green and white striped hat with a matching green coat which was covered by an inverted haori, in which it was mainly black and the diamonds at the edged were white.

"Who are you?" Grim griped his scythe and glared at the man who stood silently before him. A stand off ensued, words were unnecessary when their expressions revealed the mutual hatred between them.

"I am Kisuke Urahara. I wont let you harm my clients and friends!"

"Your weapon..." Grim studied the rectangular blade. "Is it a zanpakuto?"

"Clever." Urahara brought his sword to his face. "This is Benihime! She is my zanpakuto. Together we shall slay you and the last of your wretched kin!" Urahara's scowl was hidden under the shadow of the brim of his hat.

"Such an arrogant boast! I have outlived you countless times and in that time, I have perfected all aspects of combat. I am in essence, the ultimate warrior...the true god of death! I...am...the Grim Reaper!!!" Grim disappeared in a black mist and Urahara swiped madly at it, in an effort to clear away the mist.

Grim clubbed Urahara with his scythe's handle and then kicked the falling man in the face. Urahara rolled into a tree trunk which split in half and fell on him. He wiped blood from his nose and mouth and then tried to push the heavy tree trunk aside. He was pinned to the ground by the huge piece of lumber.

"I shall make firewood out of your bones!" Grim smiled wickedly and hacked at the far end of the trunk. His weapon sliced through it so easily that it made Urahara flinch. Grim began slicing the log at short intervals, slowly getting closer to Urahara.

"Ichigo!!" Rukia's voice echoed in the otherwise silent forest.

"That stupid shinigami girl...you have feelings for her." Grim looked down on his captive. "That was why you saved her! Well...maybe I should finish her off while you are trapped by a useless log!"

"NO!! Don't hurt her!! She has nothing to do with this!!"

"I have never cared for such things in my many centuries here. The king can be forgiven for slaying lowly pawns and for sacrificing his own."

"Did you ever have a heart?! How can you kill an innocent girl?!" Urahara pleaded.

"The heart weakens those it inhabits. Thankfully, after my death, my heart never returned, lost forever. Now, such trivial things such as my victims gender does not cause me any grief."

"You evil fiend!! I wont let you hurt her!!" Urahara writhed about, desperately trying to wriggle out of the trap.

"Big words for a worm who can't manage to crawl out of a hole!" Grim slapped Kisuke in the head with the side of his weapon.

Urahara's head fell back and his eyes rolled around. He groaned and tried several timed to rise, but each attempt ended in a pathetic fall.

"You are as good as dead. Now I shall end what I started with that young shinigami!" Grim vanished in another black cloud leaving Urahara screaming with all the energy he had. "RUKIA!!!! RUN!!!! GET OUT OF HERE!!! RUKIAAAAAAAA!!"

*****

SOUL SOCIETY

CAPTAINS MEETING

The captains who were still standing gathered around a kneeling figure with a plain white kimono. Toshiro's hair had fallen over his face, hiding his regret, sorrow and pain...excruciating pain. He had not been healed fully, only enough to keep him alive. Then they had dragged him here where his haori was removed and his shinigami uniform taken from him.

The captains all glared at him except for the senior members. In their many years here, they had become less bloodthirsty than the others. Unohana had always seemed like a mother figure to him and Ukitake like a father. They always watched over him and helped him. He would miss them dearly.

Toshiro only just realized that Soi Fon was missing. She had not turned up. Even though She resented him, she would have arrived as it was her duty to do so. However, she had not even contacted the other captains and she wasn't at the crater earlier, so...

Toshiro blinked and shut out the thought that had come to mind.

_No! She is not dead! I can feel her reiatsu...it's weak...but she is still alive!_

The subject of death aroused another question in the back of his mind. One that would plague him forever...

_Is Matsumoto alive? If not...then...I killed her..._

Toshiro watched the small droplets that fell from his eyes stain the ground beneath him.

"Toshiro Hitsugaya!" Byakuya Kuchiki said, his stern gaze set on the traitorous young shinigami. "You have committed atrocities which are unforgivable! Death is a mercy for you, so we shall impose a punishment which shall curse you until you pass on! YOU shall be banished to the world of the living, forever walking unseen and unheard by those around you. You will be powerless and therefore, defenceless against hollow and all shinigami are required to ignore your pleas as your soul is consumed."

Toshiro winced as his punishment was described further. He knew there was one word which could have substituted the whole speech...abandoned!

"As is customary, we must all make our mark on you. An eternal tribute which will always remind you of the ones you betrayed."

Each captain stepped forward and made a small cut on his body with their swords. Unohana closed her eyes and a tear slid out of the corner of her eye as she marked her friend. She wordlessly withdrew to the back of the crowd. Kommamura growled with utter contempt. He would have taken Toshiro's head if allowed, but instead only slashed him lightly across the stomach. The white kimono turned a dark crimson. Next up was Mayuri. He frowned at him and then shrugged his shoulders. As he cut into Toshiro's arm he muttered to himself.

"I'm sure he wouldn't be a very suitable test subject...let him go."

The words stung like a thousand bee stings. The captains, the people Toshiro trusted and befriended, were treating him as something lower than dirt. He was just cast aside as if they never knew him.

"You cowards!! How can you do this?! This is wrong!! We should be fighting the Reapers, not ourselves!" Toshiro roared at the assembled captains.

Zaraki stepped up to him and glowered at the tiny former captain. He towered over Hitsugaya. His blade carved into his back and a fragment of the broken blade remained inside the wound. Toshiro groaned in agony and fell on his face as Zaraki strolled off laughing.

"I'm sorry Toshiro-kun." Ukitake frowned as he lifted him to his feet again. Toshiro wanted to hug the man, but his hands were bound. Ukitake patted Toshiro's shoulder and bowed his head. "When this nightmare is over I shall visit you in the World of the living...goodbye." Toshiro rose to his feet and nicked Toshiro's upper arm with his sword. He then resignedly moved back to the others.

Kyouraku sat down with Toshiro and extended forth a cup of sake. Toshiro opened his mouth and sighed as the soothing alcohol poured down his throat. Kyouraku then made his mark on the fallen warrior.

Lastly, Byakuya stomped over to him. Toshiro raised his head and stared through blood-misted eyes. His whole body was now trembling from losing so much life fluid and his eyes struggled to remain open. He extended his hand to Byakuya and silently begged for mercy. Byakuya's eyes widened at the gesture and he backhanded him. Toshiro grunted as his face hit the floor again.

"Pathetic child! You think you can be forgiven for what you have done?! You have murdered two of your comrades in cold blood, one of them your own subordinate, the other, our leader! You are nothing to us now. You are hereby erased from Soul Society forever!!" Byakuya drove his blade straight through Toshiro's chest in his Hakusui, the source of his shinigami powers.

A senkai gate opened behind Toshiro and he struggled to not fall through. The gate was modified to lead straight to the world of the living, so that there was no passage in the Dangai. Clouds and birds and treetops were visible through the gate.

Toshiro took one last glance at his old life and then closed his eyes to block out the floods of tears which tried to escape.

"Farewell, vermin!" Byakuya hacked at the restraints on the traitor and he then kicked him through into the living world.

Toshiro fell through the sky and landed heavily on his shoulder, breaking it instantly. He screamed in agony and the wept loudly. He could only just see the senkai gate closing before it vanished from sight. He tried to get up but he was too weak. His unbroken arm had been cut twice and it wouldn't stop shaking, making it unsuitable as a support to stand back up. He couldn't even crawl, only lie there staring at the blue sky.

"This world looks so beautiful...but to me it all a facade!" Toshiro sobbed without rest for some time before passing out.

*****

FOREST

Rukia leaned over Ichigo's limp form. His head was bleeding profusely and his orange hair had turned a shade of scarlet.

"What do I do?!" Rukia heard footsteps behind her. She also heard someone screaming.

"RUKIA!! RUN!! GET OUT OF HERE!!"

"Is that..."

"RUKIAAAAA!!!"

She gulped in a large amount of air and looked around nervously. Grim was still out here, and he would come for her. She needed to escape and quick...but there was the issue of Ichigo...

"Rukia!! He's coming for you!! Get away from him!! Run for your life!! Get help!!" Kisuke continued to yell.

Rukia leaned down and kissed Ichigo's cheek. "I promise I'll come back! I won't abandon you!" With that, Rukia sprinted off into the maze of trees...and a cruel, irate killer!

The trees whipped and scratched at her face, but she ignored it. Her fear unleashed a surge of adrenaline which made her fly through the forest. When she thought was freedom was within reach, a black mist descended around her.

_No! I need to get out of here! I need to save Kisuke and Ichigo!!_

Rukia shook her head and sweat splashed off onto the trees.

Grim materialized right behind her, his scythe raised, ready to strike her down, but once again, he was knocked down by a heavy blast of spiritual energy. "Grrrr!! How many knights are trying to save this girl?!!"

"Rukia, run to the east. There is a path there. Ishida is waiting there." A tall young man with curly brown hair and bronzed skin. Both arms were transformed, one a dark shield, the other a milky white arm with a spike on the shoulder. Spiritual energy gathered around his fists and he charged at Grim.

"Chad..." Rukia watched him running and then turned and ran for the path. She silently prayed that the sounds of splattering liquid weren't from the battle, because only one of them could bleed... Rukia couldn't help it. She looked back and saw a white and black object soaring through the air. It landed at her feet and she screamed. Chad groaned and sat up. His stomach was severely lacerated and his organs were exposed.

"Chad!"

"I'm okay." He muttered.

"What?! No you're not!! You can't fight him like this! You'll die!!"

"I don't mind." Chad grunted and leaned against a tree trunk. "I'm not as strong as you...I can be sacrificed."

"No!! That's crazy!! We can all run for it!! We can get the shinigami to fight with us an-"

"Rukia...I wont make it to the city...I would just slow you down." Chad looked into Rukia's eyes with a serious expression. "I'll hold him back for as long as I can...Bye." He turned to leave but then stopped, craning his neck to glance at her from an angle. "Oh yeah...I'm sure you'll make Ichigo a very happy man someday..." He then ran off into the forest.

"What?" Rukia frowned and wiped away tears. She then set off again.

Chad's angry roars could be heard no matter how far she ran.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH-ugh!" His battle cry was cut short and a choking sound followed before a huge blast.

_I will avenge you Chad! I will..._

She could feel Grim's cold presence nearby, she had to hurry. She squinted and looked ahead of herself at something. It was the path and a figure clad in white...Uryu Ishida.

_I can make it!! Just a few more steps and-_

"You will not escape me!!" Grim roared, his voice like an explosion of sound, so loud it hurt her ears and made her cry. Rukia felt a hand on her shoulder, but when she turned around no-one was there!, however, Grim was hovering above the tree's, a red and black aura surrounding him and enveloping the sky.

"This forest shall be your grave Rukia Kuchiki!! DIE!!" Grim extended his scythe forward and a wave of fire shot down into the forest. Everything vanished in a sea of flames.

Please review. I want to know if anyone is enjoying this so far. So take a few seconds to write a review, it's not dfifficult and it can only benefit everyone. It helps me improve on my writing which makes the reading experience better for you...see, everybody wins!

_**REVIEW NOW!! DO IT!!!**_


	9. The Fallen Unite

**8. The Fallen Unite**

SEREITEI

Everything in sight went red. Blood created a haze over the world as Yoruichi collapsed. A reaper had just buried his claws deep into her spine and she was almost paralysed. She crumpled into a heap and could only watch.

The reaper seemed disinterested in her now and he moved away from her.

"Yoruichi!!" Soi Son screamed. She was crawling with one hand, the other one was dragged limply alongside her.

"Soi...Fon..." Yoruichi closed her eyes. She had no idea how long she had them closed, it felt like an eternity to her, but when she opened them again, Soi Fon was right beside her. The two smiled at each other and Soi Fon laid her body down against Yoruichi's. They lay together for several minutes before anyone spoke.

"Soi Fon...I'm so glad...you're alive-"

She was interrupted by a sudden kiss. Soi Fon's tongue snaked around inside of her mouth and she felt both uncomfortable and pleasured at the same time. She gave in to her desires and wrapped her tired, wounded arms over her friend, or possibly more than friend. Her hands caressed Soi Fon's back, wandering over her pointed shoulders and down her smooth back.

Soi Fon pulled away and groaned as a blast of air cut into her arm. The two women rolled over to face the reaper who stood poised to attack in the distance. His body was in tatters, yet he was still a dangerous threat. He would easily be able to slay them.

"Soi-"

"If we are to die...I want to die by your side. I love you Yoruichi." The once lithe captain, who was now reduced to a bloody mess, smiled warmly and reached for her companions hand. Yoruichi looked into Soi Fon's amber eyes and felt something she had never experienced before. She felt safe.

The reaper began to slowly approach them.

The two women embraced each other and again, kissed passionately.

"Together, we are strong!" Yoruichi whispered, her teary eyes closed shut.

"If we fall, it is with pride!" Soi Fon added.

"Even though our bodies are broken..." Yoruichi tightened her grip on her lover.

"Our hearts shall remain forever!" Soi Fon yelled.

Yoruichi felt Soi Fon's body rattle and go limp. She soon felt her own body receive punishment from their tormentor. As her consciousness faded away, her last thoughts were of Soi Fon's soft gentle skin and her smiling face...

*****

As captain Retsu Unohana quietly strolled down the unusually quiet streets, she overheard someone yelling. She began to quicken her pace and she soon found a badly wounded reaper kicking at the unmoving body of the 2nd squads captain and a slender, dark skinned woman with purple hair.

"Dear god! What has happened?!"

The reaper turned away from his cruel game and stared squarely at Unohana. "You look weak for a captain..."

"I am the captain of 4th squad! Unohana Retsu!" She gripped her zanpakuto and assumed a fighting stance.

"You are not a fighter? Your stance seems to be lacking in strength." The reaper analysed her posture.

"No...I am a healer. My purpose is to heal wounds, not inflict them...but now is not the time! I don't like battles but that is the only solution to this problem!" Unohana drew her sword, a very long, curved katana.

"Such a dangerous weapon for a simple nurse!" The reaper said antagonizingly.

"Silence! I am not here to receive insults!" Unohana leapt forward and swung her sword down on the reaper who blocked the attack with ease. He pushed her back and attempted to hack into her stomach, but a precise Shunpo allowed her to escape without injury. She landed behind the reaper and slashed horizontally at his side. The reaper performed his own Shunpo and the two began a series of flash steps, each one trying to land a hit on the other. Sparks flew around as they continued to fight amidst their swift movements.

Unohana stopped and leaned over, gasping for breath. "I...haven't had...to be this fast...for...quite... a while." She wheezed..

"Out of breath already? I have not even landed a scratch on you!" The reaper smiled broadly, his face a hideous mixture of his tar-like blood and cracked dirty bone. "I guess I should go easy on you...for my own benefit of course." He looked down at his damaged body.

"I need no mercy from the likes of you!" Unohana flash stepped in front of him and drove her blade through his ribs. The reaper gurgled and grunted but he did not fall. Instead, he drew his hand back and prepared to dig his iron claws into her neck. Before he could, Unohana hacked outwards from his centre mass and leapt away.

The reaper laughed at her. Curious, Unohana looked down at herself and only just noticed a trail of blood emerging from her shoulder down to her stomach. Her eyes narrowed and she stared at the massive gash.

"So fast, that the victim can't even feel it! It is one of my favourite tricks!" The reaper licked his bare teeth with a black, serpentine tongue.

"How?! So fast!" Unohana stared in disbelief.

"Most of those who reach my age try and improve on strength, but I focused on speed and agility."

"But even our captain commander could not do that! Such speeds are impossible!!" Unohana retched and a red torrent gushed from her mouth.

"Do not overexert yourself! I want to kill you, not let a small cut do the job for me." The reaper disintegrated into the air and reformed above her. Unohana closed her eyes and bowed her head.

_This is it! I was never meant to fight, I brought this on myself...Strange...I don't feel any different. By now I should be dying, I should be in pieces...shouldn't I?_

Slowly, she raised an eyelid. The reaper was impaled on a long thin skewer made of ice. Snowflakes were falling from the sky and a cold breeze made Unohana shiver.

_Is this...could it really be?_

"Captain, are you alright?" called a tall woman with short spiky grey locks. Two thin braids fell across the side of her face. She stood in a defensive stance, her zanpakuto released. It resembled a normal katana, only with two other blades protruding at 45 degree angles.

"Is that Itegumo? I have never even seen it's power all these years." Unohana landed softly on the ground and summoned Minazuki, a huge, one eyed manta ray which swallowed Yoruichi and Soi Fon before leaning down to allow it's master to climb onto it's back. "Not now Minazuki, I want to watch Isane's battle. Take them to the infirmary."

The green creature growled and flew off into the air.

"Captain, I am not sure if I can kill him...I am not strong enough!" Isane murmured, a sudden surge of panic overcoming her.

"Isane, you can beat him! Just believe in yourself!" Unohana said in the way a mother would encourage a child.

"Okay...I'll try." She tensed and looked up at her opponent.

"Wretched little bitch!!" The reaper slashed at the ice skewer and it broke into pieces. He failed to catch himself as he fell and landed heavily on the ground. "GGRRAAAAHHGGG!! Dammit!! I will make you pay for that!!"

Isane charged head on, oblivious to her foe's strength and speed. She slashed wildly at him, one or two of her strikes actually hitting him. The others were dodged and blocked. The reaper gave a wry smile and he feigned a straight slash to the left. Isane fell for the ploy and was punished for it. The iron claws raked across her arm and dug deep. The hooked ends caught on bone and Isane wailed in agony, dropping her sword in the process.

"Isane!!" Unohana made to run to her subordinate, but a bony hand wrapped around her throat and clenched tight. She wheezed and choked, but the scream she wanted never escaped her lips. She was lifted from the ground and then slammed through the concrete road with great force. She struggled to breathe as she was winded in the attack. Her assailant was a reaper with long grey hair, a woman perhaps...

Meanwhile, Isane's arm was slowly cleaved off. When her limb flew through the air she shrieked so loudly that her foe had to step away from her. She fell to her knees and grasped the spurting stump at her shoulder. "My arm!! My arm!!"

"Now we are even young lady. Now the true fight begins!" The reaper licks his lips with his vile serpent tongue.

Isane roared so loud it was barely understandable. "Rain down, frosted saw-flakes!!" The snow falling lazily all stopped in mid air and began to oscillate, like tiny circular saws. "Every flake of snow around us is now my blade, although they are small, so many of these hitting all at one will tear you apart! You're finished!"

"Impressive, but snowflakes don't sound very threatening to me." The reaper snickered.

The female reaper who attacked Unohana slowly crept behind Isane, a sickle-styled weapon in her skeletal hands.

Isane threw her hand forward and the miniature saw blade all flew towards the reaper. He slashed his claws at the mass of snow and the blast of air which were released cut through the white cloud, but did not destroy it. The reapers eyes widened as the deadly snowfall hit him full force. Black liquid sprayed out amongst fragments of bone.

The reapers body, now a pile of bony splinters, blew away in the wind leaving only a thick steaming puddle of black soup that filled his bones.

Isane cheered and turned around, expecting to see her captains beaming expression, but instead, her vision fell across a dirty skull with grey strands of hair flaying out from the top. The new reaper opened her mouth and a green mist drifted out. Isane stared at it and breathed it in unknowingly.

"What is that?" Isane asked, only just catching on to the fact it could be poison. She gasped and covered her nose and mouth...but too late.

"MINAZUKI!!!" Unohana screeched. The female reaper frowned and punched Isane square in the face. She fell back and went unconscious, leaving the reaper to finish off Unohana.

"My name is Blood, what is yours?"

Unohana glared hatefully. " I shall not give you the satisfaction of knowing you're victims name."

"Oh, so you admit you are defeated? That is a welcome surprise!" Blood kneeled down and slashed Unohana's cheek. "Does that mean you are done with hopeless resistance?"

Unohana nodded. "Yes, I realise I cannot defeat you."

"Do you understand the true power of a god of the dead? Do you realise why shinigami are obsolete?!" Blood became more aggravated with every word. "Tell me you want to die!! I want to hear it!!"

Unohana stared blankly, her gaze burning into the blank eye sockets of her foe. "I wish death..."

Blood leaned close to hear the rest of the sentence.

"Upon...a lowly pretender. One who has wrongfully considered herself as a death god when she is lower than dirt."

"And what is the wretched cow's name?" Blood leaned even closer, her stale, rotting breath blowing into Unohana's face.

"Her name is...Blood!!" Unohana reached for her sword and jabbed the point through Blood's eye socket. The blade came out the back of the skull, stained in black goo. Blood gagged and her jaw flipped open in shock.

"I shall keep you alive for now! I have a few questions for you about the rest of our group." Unohana muttered an incantation and then paralysed her captive. She then threw Blood into Minazuki's gaping maw. "Don't heal her, just keep her alive!"

As she sat silently atop the huge manta ray, Unohana lost herself in thought.

_These reapers are immensely strong! It took three captains to subdue just one! If there are stronger reapers out there...then we may be doomed!!_

*****

WORLD OF THE LIVING

Tatsuke sat against the fence outside Orihime's flat. She could feel a strange sensation deep within her, one she felt often only recently. It always happened when she saw Ichigo fighting...maybe it was because of him...

She threw her head back and winced as her head hit a metal screw. She slumped down and closed her eyes.

_Orihime...where are you?_

"Excuse me Tatsuke..." A female voice spoke. Tatsuke's eyes shot open but relaxed when they found nothing important. A girl from her class stood over her, one hand holding a book, the other rubbing the back of her neck. Her expression revealed her concern. "What is going on? Two girls have disappeared and now some of the guys are missing too!"

Tatsuke narrowed her eyes. "What?!"

"That weird guy with orange hair...the one who is always angry. He practically disappeared!"

"Ichigo..."

"That his name! Yeah Ichigo." The girl frowned and looked to the ground. "Also...a cat went missing."

"A cat?"

"A black cat. I think it was a stray, but it kept coming to my house a few times a week looking for food. I haven't seen it for days!"

"Maybe it just went somewhere else." Tatsuke sighed. "I have no clue about all these people going missing. I'm just waiting for Orihime."

"But what if she is dead or something?!" The girl squealed as tatsuke gripped her collar and scowled at her.

"She is alive! Don't ever say that!!" Tatsuke threw the girl backwards and she ran off screaming. "Dammit...what is wrong with this town?"

*****

Toshiro blinked and the sky shone a different colour to the last time he was conscious. Instead of a bright blue, a dark orange hue took over the sky. Small cinders rained down around him, starting tiny blazes or just sizzling out.

"Fire..." Toshiro tried to open his eyes fully but it hurt terribly. Any movement hurt...It was as if tiny hooks were dug into his skin and each time he moved, they caught his flesh. Thankfully, there were no hooks, but the awful sensation was similar.

Sirens blared incredibly loud in the distance. The ringing in his ears did not stop until a few minutes after the sirens stopped. He covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut.

_Stop it!! Stop making that noise!! It hurts!!_

Ignoring the pain, Toshiro sat up against a tree. Loose bark got into his wounds and he couldn't help but cry. He immediately stopped when he heard a voice. It was soft and sweet. It sounded like a young girl...only ten or eleven years old.

"Hello? Is someone there?" The girl asked. She was nowhere in sight, yet she sounded close.

Toshiro groaned as a gash on his chest oozed blood down onto his stomach. He coughed and a large amount of his life fluid left his body.

The long grass around him rustled and the top of someone's head became visible. Whoever the girl was, she had black hair.

"Are you okay?" The girl asked, her voice full of concern.

Toshiro grappled with the decision of whether or not to respond. This girl somehow seemed familiar to him, yet he could not place a face or name to her.

The grass swayed and then split apart to allow the girl to get through. She instantly turned pale and her eyes widened dramatically. Her mouth opened but no sound came out. Her whole body twitched and she fell back into the grass.

"Don't... be afraid...even...if I wanted to...hurt you...I can't!" Toshiro struggled to string a sentence together. His lungs burned and his throat felt like it was stuffed with rocks and gravel.

"Oh my god...I know you!" The girl stabbed a finger at him. "You're...that shinigami guy...the one who played soccer really well!"

Toshiro cocked his head.

"You always hung out near the park, watching the sunset or something." The girl approached him and knelt down. "Who did this to you?!"

"My own friends." Toshiro muttered, his gaze averted and his head lowered to the ground. "They stabbed me in the back!"

The girl eyed him up and down. "I can see that."

"They threw me out. I am no longer a shinigami, just a lost soul...waiting for a hollow to kill me and set me free."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because I betrayed them. I murdered our commander in cold blood. But in all honesty, he deserved it!" Toshiro noticed the girl stiffen when he said 'murder'. "Don't fear me. I have no strength to harm you, and I wouldn't want to anyway."

"How will you be healed? Can doctors operate on you?"

"Only if I was in a gigai, but-" Toshiro stopped and stared at the girls puzzled expression. "What is your name?"

"Karin." She smiled and for a moment, Toshiro felt the pain go away.

"Well, I need an artificial body to go to a doctor, otherwise, they are useless."

"Would Ichigo know what to do? He is one of yo- I mean...well..." Karin frowned and searched her mind for the right words.

"It's alright. I know what you mean...but how do you know about Ichigo?"

"He's my brother." She stated blankly.

"Brother?!" Toshiro choked. He coughed and then cleared his throat, before returning to the conversation. "You don't have any spiritual powers...I wonder why?"

"Ichigo would know where to find a...um...gig...gig...gig-thingy." Karin rose to her feet and scanned the area with a worried expression. "The problem is, he hasn't come home for three days! I came out here to look for him because I could feel his presence...but now..."

"You can't sense his spiritual pressure?"

Karin nodded.

"I don't want you to get upset, but that could mean he is dead!" Toshiro frowned. "I hope not though. He could be our only chance to beat these monsters!"

"Monsters?" Karin queried.

"Never mind. I have told you enough. Right now, I need rest." Toshiro began to doze off until he was shaken awake.

"You can come to my house. My dad won't be able to see you so he wont mind." Karin dragged him to his feet and assisted him in walking.

As they neared the fringe of the forest, a huge explosion knocked them over. A surging wave of flames swept over them.

*****

Rukia watched as the sky disappeared under a massive black inferno. The treetops were incinerated and a heat unlike anything ever felt before swept over her. Sweat poured from her skin only to melt back into her flesh. Her eyes watered and she became paralysed.

_This reiatsu!! It is insane!! I can't move, I can't speak, I can't even scream!! This can't be happening!_

The black, writhing sea of hungry, flesh eating tongues slowly descended.

Rukia could smell her skin cooking and hear her hair burning away. She collapsed under the immense spiritual pressure and tried to clench her eyes shut so as not to witness her own death, but her eyelids had stuck to her face, preventing her from even blinking the ash out of her eyes.

_Please!! Someone save me!! I need to help Ichigo and the others!! I can't die here!!_

"Get-"

_I don't want to die..._

"Suga..."

_Some one please..._

"Tensho!!"

_SAVE ME!!!_

The heat dissipated. A cool breeze blew against her face. The burning sensation had gone, now a numbfeeling took over her body.

_Is this death? It feels...nice?_

Heavy breathing startled her and she awoke to see a cloud of smoke and dust. A silhouette of a man with heaving shoulders and a long thin katana was visible through the haze.

"What...happened?" Rukia asked dazed.

When the dust settled, her saviour was revealed...

The shinigami have managed to defeat two reapers and now have one captive to interrogate. What will they find out about their foe? Also, why is Grim so persistent on slaying Rukia, and who saved her at the last second? All in the next chapter!!

Now it's time to review. It wont take long and it isn't hard, so just do it! _**REVIEW!!**_


	10. Marching to War

**9. Marching to War**

WORLD OF THE LIVING

FOREST

A great dust cloud settled on the burnt trees and ashen ground. The sky was stained with ash and smoke and the raining dirt was all that could be heard.

Rukia stared at the person standing near her, his face a mixture of anger, frustration and agony.

"Ichigo..." Rukia whispered.

Ichigo was still reeling from the nasty hit to the back of his head that he endured earlier. Blood still dribbled out of his mouth and the large cut on his head. He swayed on his feet and looked around in a daze.

"Lucky break." Grim flash stepped down to them. "You managed to stop my attack, but you appear to be near death already." Grim pointed to Ichigo and he made his reiatsu increase to the point that Ichigo could no longer stand. Grim laughed wickedly and regarded his opponents. "Everybody seems attached to this girl." He turned his withered, skeletal face to Rukia. "You have quite an army of devoted followers."

"They aren't followers. They are friends! Something you will never understand!" Rukia blurted out. She immediately whimpered and cured into a ball after the words left her mouth.

"Ah, I see...So that means you care just as much about them?"

Rukia nodded, unaware of the terrible mistake she made.

"Very well. I shall reconsider my approach to this. Farewell for now." Grim turned to leave but stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "But, I shall leave a parting gift..." He vanished only to reappear in front of Ichigo. His dug his fingers into Kurosaki's neck and then threw him into a tree branch. His neck erupted in a red shower and Grim faded into nothingness, although his laughter carried on even after he left.

"ICHIGO!!!"

*****

SEREITEI

Atop Sokyoku hill, a trio of reapers looked down upon the lair of their prey.

"There shall be nowhere to hide! We shall do as planned until they are cornered...then we shall slaughter them all!!" A tall thin reaper whispered harshly.

"Yes, Plague is right. We must trap them if we are to succeed. Although we outmatch them in most aspects of battle, they have the advantage of numbers and knowledge of the area. They could spring ambushes on us at any time, unless they are trapped.!" One of the others said. He wore a tattered grey cloak and brandished a short scythe that he held with one hand.

"Exactly." muttered Plague.

The third reaper groaned. "Fine, I shall do as Grim asks...for now." He fiddled with his scythe, a menacing looking weapon with multiple jags in the blade and a multitude of needles protruding from the handle.

"You had better do as instructed, otherwise, Rot and I shall have to deal with you!" Plague spat at the disobedient one and Rot turned away, the small movement tearing away strands of his torn cloak.

The trio stopped bickering and all nodded in unison. "Time to herd the cattle!"

They all leapt down towards the unknowing shinigami below.

*****

Rukia looked around frenziedly. She was panicking worse than ever before. She needed desperate medical attention for Ichigo, but she couldn't not go to a hospital...so the only way would be...

Rukia picked up Ichigo's sword, the mighty Zangetsu. It took a great deal of effort to just lift it slightly. It's power was so great that Rukia got tingles just by touching it. "Dammit! How does Ichigo lift this thing?! It weighs a ton!"

Rukia struggled on to lift the great sword.

*****

Mayuri Kurotsuchi's fingers tapped wildly at a giant keypad that was the size of a table. His eyes darted to and fro, scanning the text swiftly scrolling across the screen.

'Bang'

Mayuri's fingers hovered completely still, above the keys. His expression soured and he rose from his computer. "Nemu? Is that you? I can feel your reiatsu! I told you not to interrupt me!"

No answer came. Another bang, followed quickly by a loud crashing.

"What are you doing?! If you damage any of the equipment I swear I will...oh my..." Mayuri stared at Nemu's face. It was twisted into a silent scream, her face contorted with agony. But that wasn't the worst part...what was worse...was that her head was detached from her body! Her head was on top of a metal stake.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Mayuri drew his sword and studied the murky, dark room. It had been designed to reject light, for reasons unknown. Kisuke Urahara was quite peculiar about his research, most likely because of his dangerous and illegal experiments and inventions.

Mayuri closed his eyes and concentrated. He found traces of the assailants reiatsu and began to follow.

_I shall find you, scum! _

Outside, rows of stakes lined the street, a few unfortunate victims remained pinned to the ground as they were caught in the melee.

"What is this? I have never seen such a power? Is it kido of something else?" Mayuri cocked his head and scowled. "You are close." Mayuri closed his eyes and backed into the wall. His body melted into it and he became part of the cement.

*****

Rot found two squads together, both scouting the area. Both captains appeared to be quite old, one with long white hair, the other with wild brown locks hidden under a rice farmer hat.

The two captains looked up at once, both pairs of eyes narrowed at the sight of the reaper. They shouted at their troops and they all assembled as one unit and drew their swords.

Rot sighed and glanced over his shoulder. "Plague. Let us show them the true might of the reapers." Plague suddenly appeared behind him and the two approached their enemy. Plague went ahead of Rot and bared his bony palms to the assembled shinigami.

"May pestilence reign over the weak, reap the fallen, Plague!" His scythe disappeared in a dark green cloud and when it settled, his scythe was soaked in a vile looking fluid which resembled vomit, only with a shade of green. Plague swung his scythe and the liquid sprayed out onto the shinigami.

The ranks of shinigami all grunted in disgust as they were covered in the foul green liquid. One of the captains, the one with white hair, wiped the fluid from his face before glaring at the reapers.

"It will take more than coloured water to kill us!"

"Oh really?" Plague asked, pointing to the lower ranking officers.

They all began to throw up and cough violently. The people turned pale and collapsed. Ukitake's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "What is this? What did you do?" A young blonde girl stumbled over to her captain, her eyes bloodshot and her mouth lined with blood. "Kiyone?!"

Kiyone fell to her knees and stretched a hand out to her leader. "Please...Help me!!" She then vomited and rolled onto her back groaning in pain.

One officer shrieked in agony and seized his own sword. He squeezed his eyes shut and buried the blade deep in his gut, ending his own life.

Ukitake stared at his hands. His skin was going pale and he could not stop shaking. His stomach burned and his bones ached. "You coward! Poisoning your enemy? Fight like a true warrior!!" Ukitake flash stepped to Plagues side and drew his twin hooked swords. He slashed in two directions at once and Plague failed to dodge one of them. Ukitake grimaced as pus bled out of Plagues thigh. He wrenched his blades out and leapt back away from his opponent.

"You are quite right. Because of my powers I have neglected training in the arts of war. Maybe, you can help me learn to fight?"

"You will be dead before you learn anything from me!" Ukitake growled.

"Are you quite sure, I mean, I have a comrade here who is a much better fighter than I am. If needed, I shall tag out with him, and I warn you...he is a master of combat!" Plague sighed. "To be quite honest with you, I have tired myself out. I shall depart for now, come on Rot! We're going!" He called out to his companion.

"What?! You cannot run from a fight! Stand and face me!!" Ukitake set after the retreating villains.

"Oh shut up! I am sick of you already!" Plague sprayed the green fluid at Ukitake, but luckily, he dodged it.

Ukitake came within a few strides of them when he had to stop. His stomach churned and he fell from the sky down into the pile of dead and dying shinigami. The other captain summoned a hell butterfly and gave it a message to tell the other captains. It fluttered off into the sky and was joined by a group of others bearing the same message.

One of the butterflies flew past Rot. He caught it gently in his hand and it turned to dust instantly. Rot turned to his companion. "The plan is working perfectly."

"That is what you think! Look at this!!" Plague displayed his bleeding side. "Is that perfect to you?!"

"It is a small wound! Pain does not affect us, we are immortal!" Rot formed a fist.

"Then why are Skull and Harvester dead?! And where is Blood? We have lost three already, there are only a few of us left!" Plague frowned. "We cannot afford to lose any more warriors. We cannot take such risks anymore!"

"Listen to yourself! You took down two squads of shinigami and only received a flesh wound. Now you are saying that they will win?! How foolish!" Rot sighed. "Do not have doubts...If Grim learns of this, your head shall be held in his hands!"

"I am aware of that." Plague muttered.

*****

Kommamura halted his march when the hell butterfly perched gently on his immense furry arm. The message was transmitted to him and he frowned. "Two squads already incapacitated?! And Ukitake has fallen? How could only two of these reapers cause so much damage?"

The huge fox man waved a hand to gain the attention of his squad. "I have received word that the enemy has already attacked. They are fleeing, apparently, to the east, near Sokyoku hill. We shall intercept them and wipe the ryoka out!" His armoured fist shot into the air and his squad cheered. "We shall protect the peace that Soul Society achieves!" More cheers were aroused from the crowd. "Now go!!"

All left at once.

*****

Zaraki awoke from his slumber as Yachiru was dancing on his stomach. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Yachiru chanted. Her pink hair flying around her face as she leapt up and down.

"What?" Zaraki rubbed the back of his head and groaned. "And get off of me!!" He swiped at the tiny girl but she nimbly jumped over to his side and landed softly on the floor.

"More of those weird people! They are trying to run away to Sokyoku hill, but we can catch 'em and kill 'em!" Yachiru then reverted back to her chant.

"Shut up! Geez, what do you eat?" Zaraki sighed.

"Byakuya's cookies!!" Yachiru yelled, despite being only two feet from her huge captain.

"I wasn't actually asking you stupid little-" Zaraki struggled to retain what little composure he had. "Geez, seriously..." He trailed off and picked up his damaged sword, a long katana which bore the wounds of many, many battles. Yachiru leapt onto his back and pulled his hair.

"Go Kenny! Run!"

"I swear, if you mess up my bells..."Zaraki growled under his breath. He ran to the door and kicked it off it's hinges. "Alright, where's my little friend?" He sneered.

"You mean me?" Yachiru asked, leaning over his shoulder to face him.

"No dammit!! Not you, the ryoka!! Stop talking before I strangle you!!" Zaraki roared. Yachiru shrieked and crawled onto his back again. Zaraki growled and stomped off.

*****

Hisagi sighed as the hell butterfly fluttered away. "Alright...We're going to Sokyoku hill. The enemy are trying to escape to there, but we'll ambush them! Lets go!"

The other members of 9th squad obeyed and followed after him.

*****

"Hmm." Byakuya watched the messenger leave through the open window.

"Well, what will we do?" Renji approached his captain. He had received the message as well.

"We do nothing." Byakuya stated.

"Huh?" Renji stared at his captain quizzically. "But the enemy is-"

"The other squads will go, we don't need the whole of Soul Society present to vanquish two measly ryoka." Byakuya muttered sternly.

"But Ukitake was-" Again, Renji was interrupted.

"Ukitake has been ill for many years. Such occurrences are normal for him. The disease has always become more severe when he raises his stress levels. He will be fine."

"But Captain Kyouraku requested the assistance of all squads." Renji exclaimed.

"He was always a man to exaggerate." Byakuya murmured. His gaze was still concentrated outside, his gaze wandering through the dark clouds.

"Is something wrong captain?" Renji asked, his tattooed eyebrows dropping in concern.

"I can feel it..." Byakuya whispered, his eyes narrowing.

"Feel what?" Renji tilted his head and walked closer to his captain.

Byakuya bowed his head and closed his eyes. "It is nothing. Gather the troops, we shall depart soon."

"What? I thought we weren't going to fight the ryoka?" Renji said confused.

"We aren't." Byakuya strolled past Renji and went to the courtyard outside the barracks. Renji watched him go, his expression was of pure puzzlement.

The sun crawled away and the moon rose into the sky. Darkness swept over Soul Society as the shinigami ran for Sokyoku hill.

*****

Rukia finally managed to lift the massive zanpakuto which Ichigo could juggle as if it were lighter than a feather. She grunted as her muscles ached under the stress of keeping the blade in the air. She stabbed at the air and then twisted the blade, as if it was a key in a lock. A senkai lock opened before her and she slung the large sword over Ichigo's shoulder and then dragged him through.

"Keep breathing Ichigo. We'll be in Soul Society soon. The shinigami can help us..."

In the next chapter: The batle of Sokyoku hill begins, which side will win? Also, Rukia enters Soul Society, but what state will it be in by the time she get's there? Toshiro and Karin, What is their fate? Find out in the next chapter!

_**NOW REVIEW!!! **_It will be greatly appreciated!


	11. Destruction

**10. Destruction**

Sokyoku hill was silent. Plague and Rot watched the winding snake of torches that slithered towards the base of the cliff.

"Look at them all! To think so many would fall for the ploy!" Plague shook his head. "It just seems more insulting that they could drive us out and almost wipe us out completely!"

"Do not underestimate them. There are strong captains out there somewhere..." Rot studied the mass of shinigami. "War is coming...Are you ready?"

"Of course! Spine, for that matter, is not. Where is he? He couldn't possibly have fallen to these weaklings?!" Plague looked out over the region and found a shadow, moving incredibly fast. "Oh...There he is."

The third reaper doubled over when he arrived and began to gasp. "The years have taken their toll on me!" He murmured.

"Be on guard!! They could already be here!!" Roared one of the shinigami below. Hundreds of footsteps pounded on the stone steps leading to the execution ground.

"Shall I?" Spine tensed and his body jerked as hundreds of metal spikes poked out from his flesh.

"Wait..." Rot raised a hand and stared at the forest of dead trees behind them. A loud roar, like a beast made of a thousand warriors, came from the dead forest. The loud increased in volume and a thunderous chorus of footsteps echoed with it. All of a sudden, hundreds of shinigami charged out from the tree cover.

A sinister smile crept across Rot's fleshless lips. His hand dropped down to his side and he uttered a short word in a growl so deep it sounded like a cough. "Go!"

Spine nodded and spread his arms wide out to the side. The metal spikes all shot out from his body and like a volley of arrows, rained down on the enemy. Shinigami fell in large groups, their bodies being lanced by the stakes. Screams arose from the rank and a group of shinigami jumped ahead of the others, they were captains.

Rot disappeared and materialized next to Kyouraku. The two exchanged furious strikes but none landed.

Spine reached for two spikes in his stomach and he wrenched them out in a shower of blood. He grinned as he twirled the double ended swords that he held. He pounced on Sajin Kommamura and he easily dodged the huge fox-mans cumbersome hits.

Plague ducked under a sword which soared towards his face and then rose into the sky. He swung his scythe and the foul poisonous liquid showered the front line of weaker shinigami. Those caught in the spray convulsed and died in agony, their insides feeling as if they were torn apart.

Plague laughed maniacally. "Yes, drop like flies!! All of you!! Feel my wrath!! HA HA!!" His laughter stopped when a young female shinigami jumped up to him.

"Snap Tobiume!"

Plague was thrown to the ground by a ball of fire which hit him at point blank range. He landed at the feet of another shinigami, only this one was a captain.

"You are not the one I am after, but nevertheless..." The captains blade drilled into the ground where Plagues face was, before he rolled away. The captain with odd face paint made his grin spread wider, so that it covered half of his face. "Good reflexes. But I am really in no mood for games...Just die quietly!" Mayuri stabbed again but Plague flash stepped behind him and sprayed the captain with the green slime.

Mayuri stared at the mess on his haori and then at Plague. "You made my uniform dirty! You vermin!"

Plagues eyes narrowed.

_What?! It doesn't affect him! How can this be?!_

"I know what your futile brain is thinking...Why am I not retching like the others? Well, to answer your question, I have subjected myself to so many types of poisons that my body is now naturally immune. Even though your particular type has never been used on me before, I have become immune to similar strains, and so, here I am, unharmed. Genius isn't it?" Mayuri tilted his head ninety degrees and his eyes opened fully. Mixed with his eerie grin and face pain, he looked truly terrifying.

"What the hell are you?!" Plague yelled frenziedly.

Mayuri chuckled and stared daggers at his opponent. "I am a god of death! Now farewell...Ban-kai! Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!!" The three pronged, golden sword erupted in a purple mist and a red aura exploded out from it. The sound of a crying infant echoed across the battlefield and all heads turned in unison to see a huge shadow growing from the mist. The crying became louder, so loud that Plague cowered and grasped the sides of his head. The noise was deafening, like a haunting siren that assaulted the ears.

"Make it stop!!" Plague screamed.

Mayuri howled with laughter, his shoulders rolling back and forth. He threw his head to the sky and roared. "Isn't it marvellous?! Such an amazing sight to see before you are torn apart!!"

Plague stiffened and shakily held his scythe. He roared and charged towards the still growing shape that was to be Mayuri's Bankai. The smoke cleared and a giant caterpillar wearing a red robe and with a human head screeched. It had a babies face, but with blank eyes which leaked blood. Purple mist drifted from it's mouth. It's two front legs were actually human arms, only like the face, huge and yellow in colour. The beast cried and then set it's blank gaze on Plague who was approaching fast.

Plague leapt into the sky and came within two metres of the creatures soft underbelly. It was then that Mayuri laughed maniacally again. Plague lost focus and barely noticed the cracks and splits forming in the creatures belly. In a rain of purplish blood, a multitude of blades shot out from it's chest. Plague was caught in the forest of blades and his body was diced up. Shards of bone fluttered down to the ground. Plagues scream continued even after he had died.

Rot shook his head in a short moment of grief for his fallen kin, but he then immediately returned to his bloodlust. He tightened his grip on his kama and darted towards his opponent.

Kyouraku ducked under the horizontal slash and then rolled away from an arced strike. Sparks flew as he guarded the next hit. They continued to attack frenziedly, sparks and blood raining down on the others.

Kyouraku winced as his right shoulder was sliced open. He swung his large scimitar down on Rot, but he dodged with ease and slit Kyouraku's wrist. Shunsui howled and dropped one of his scimitar. He counter-attacked with a kick to Rot's centre mass. Rot muttered something and his kama disappeared. Shunsui decided it was the time to finish him and so he elbowed his foe in the face and then drew his arm back, ready to stab straight through the skeletons ribcage. His blade buried itself into Rots chest and a loud crack hinted at the extent of the damage.

Rot's mouth dropped open and tarry blood oozed out, but a hint of a smile still remained on his face. Shunsui couldn't see Rot's hand open and the hand-held scythe suddenly materializing in his grip. Rot brought his face up to Shunsui's and he cackled insanely. Specks of blood spat out of his mouth and into Kyouraku's eyes. He winced and when he opened his eyes again, rots arm had swung around past Shunsui's back. Before he could work out what his opponent was doing, he felt a sharp pain in his back. Something had dug into his right lung and he could actually feel his internal bleeding.

Kyouraku coughed and fell from the sky, leaving his sword in Rots stomach.

Rot howled with laughter and swooped down into the ranks of weaker shinigami. He hacked away at them as they feebly tried to defend themselves.

"HA! You're nothing!! NOTHING!!! Bow to my almighty strength!! Feel my wrath!!!" Rot screamed as he frenziedly cut down all who came near him.

Spine seemed less excited than his comrade. His opponent was much larger than him and his shikai was quite a nuisance. A giant, sword-wielding arm continued to slash at him. He could just manage to dodge the immense blade, but he was beginning to tire. Soon, he would be too slow and would surely die.

"You are slowing down!" Growled Kommamura. He turned his head and looked at something in the distance. A smile crept across his fox-like features.

Spine tilted his head and shrugged.

_Any distraction is good enough! I need to get a hit on him!_

Spine hurled a trio of spikes. But something got in the way. A giant caterpillar with a human infants head.

"What the..." Spine stared quizzically at the monstrosity as it spun around and head straight for him.

He leapt into the sky, out of the creatures grasp, but a huge sword came crashing down above him. He flash stepped to a safe distance, but noticed the baby faced menace was already jumping up to catch him.

_This is insane!! How can I get past these giant creatures?! It's impossible!!_

Spine heard a loud splintering crack down below and he discovered Rot, lying on his back with a group of twenty or thirty shinigami all hacking away at him. Spines scowled and unleashed a volley of spikes. Only a few of the shinigami got away, mainly the lieutenants and higher ranking troops.

"Damn you Grim!! You have sent us to our deaths!! Come and help us you lazy bastard!!!" Spine raised a fist to the sky as he roared. He buckled under the force of a giant hand catching him. It was the Mayuri's Bankai. It dragged him down to the ground and then slammed him through the rocky surface of the cliff. Spine retched and his tar-like body fluids sprayed out. Dazedly, he watched as a huge golem formed above him. The immense warrior raised it's sword, a mighty blade the height of a skyscraper, and brought it down on the screaming reaper.

A thunderous explosion made part of the cliff-face fall apart and crumble into the buildings down below. The shinigami still alive began to pick up the injured and dragged them away from the landslide.

The battlefield went silent as the torches went out, hiding the hundreds of casualties and the river of blood. Although the shinigami won the battle, it had cost them terribly...

*****

INFIRMARY

"My leg! I can't feel my leg!!"

"Please! Help me!!"

"My eyes!! That bastard took them!!"

"No! He can't die! He can't"

"Aaaggghhh! It hurts!!"

"It burns!!"

Unohana wiped tears from her eyes. She had experienced battles before, but none like this. Shinigami were crawling to her feet, begging for help as their lower body was missing. She had people throwing up blood, many missing limbs, and many wailing about their fallen friends.

_What happened?! How could these reapers cause such destruction! We have lost over two hundred troops tonight and of the few hundred remaining, more than half are severely wounded. We need to know how many more of these reapers exist...and I know who to talk to!_

*****

The senkai gate opened and Rukia dragged Ichigo through. She groaned as she fell onto the wet ground. "Where are we?!" Rukia asked as she slowly gazed around. Her eyes narrowed and a scream died in her throat.

She was in the middle of a battlefield! Her eyes darted around frenziedly and she felt a slight relief that the battle was over...but...

Corpses were strewn all over. Small fires burned in patches around the area. Severed limbs lay scattered everywhere and a massive crater lay at the edge of the cliff.

"Is this...Sokyoku hill?!" Rukia asked to herself. She began to shiver and crawled closer to Ichigo. She nestled into his warm body and lay there until the chills stopped. "Ichigo. Don't die...I need you..."

Ichigo grunted and shifted slightly, but he did not wake from his coma-like state.

"What did he do to you? Why did you try and follow me? This is my fault..." Rukia stared at her shaking hands and tucked them under her armpits. It was colder than usual, much , much colder. The air itself seemed dead, no wind, no breeze and no clouds either. Night's black sheet was clearly revealed.

Rukia frowned at the cloudless sky. "This doesn't feel right...Something must be wrong!"

"_**There is something wrong...but you will fix it my dear." **_A booming loud voice shouted. Rukia had to cover her ears, otherwise she would have been deafened by the vocal explosion.

"Who are you?! What do you mean?!" Rukia huddled next to her companion, desperately wishing for him to wake. She accidentally touched his neck which bore a crusted, wet gash. She yelped and barely managed to not faint.

A glint in the sky distracted her. She gazed up at the shining object and she noted that it was moving...towards her. With a painful shove, she moved herself and Ichigo away from the object as it hurtled down to her feet. It struck into the ground and stood alone in the small cloud of dust roused from the broken ground.

When the dust resettled into the ground, a long, curved blue scythe shone in the moonlight.

Rukia shrieked. Memories of her loss of sanity and the attack on Ichigo came flooding into her mind.

_That's it!! The weapon I used against Ichigo! That's it!!_

Rukia gazed at the brilliant shine of blue. It was beautiful, despite the fact it was a deadly weapon, just waiting to be painted red. She found herself unwittingly mesmerized by the dazzling weapon. The crescent moon became perfectly aligned with the scythes, arced blade. From Rukia's perspective, they melded into one single object, the moon perfectly eclipsed by the deep blue piece of steel.

_I...feel...sleepy..._

Rukia fell forward and placed her hands out to stop herself from head butting the ground. She gritted her teeth and clenched a fist.

_No! I need to stay awake! To protect Ichigo...and myself. I...won't...fall for...a trick..._

The ground was cold to the touch. The dried blood from the previous battle here had aroused a horrible stench, but the hideous browny-red colour was gone. Instead, a vibrant blue was reflected by the scythe. Rukia's last waking thought was of her favourite colour.

_I...like blue...**Not orange!!**_

No-one was around to see Rukia's eyes turn a shade of red before she drifted into the world of slumber.

*****

Blood raised her head and listened to footsteps approaching her cell. She would have easily killed whoever came near her, if her hands were not bound by chains. She cursed and waited expectantly for the shinigami rats to question her, as they had told her they would.

A shadow appeared on the wall nearby. It was coming from above the stairs next to her cell. The shadow looked different to most shinigami...it wore a hooded robe...

"I wont talk to you vermin!" Blood yelled.

"My, how nasty to call your leader such a thing."

Blood felt a chill rattle her bones. If she had facial features, they would have registered a deep rooted fear, but instead, her glowing eyes flickered and narrowed.

Grim glowered at her and he summoned his dragon skull scythe. The chains rattled loudly on the handle of his intimidating weapon. "Pathetic! I will not let you tell them anything!"

"I swear!! I wont tell them! I will die before I talk!" Blood begged.

"I know! That was why I came..." Grim smiled wickedly and drew his scythe back, only to swing it into the bars of the cage. The thick steel bars snapped under the strength of the ancient warrior. Grim licked his grey teeth with the sinister black tongue which was better suited to a snake than anything even remotely human.

"No...No!!" Blood screamed, backing into the rear wall of the cell. She silently wished that the wall was like water and that she could sink through, away from this creep. Unfortunately, that never happened, and she was tortured and brutally murdered by her own kind.

After an hour of hacking at the already dead remains of his former companion, Grim emerged from the underground cell with a blood stained grin.

*****

"_Karin!! Karin!! Please stay with me Karin!!"_

The voice sounded like a heavenly dream. Despite the urgency and fear in the voice, Karin thought it sounded quite sweet. She assumed she was smiling because her dream self was definitely smiling. In her dream, she was alone, lost in an inferno of darkness. The flames were so dark, they were beyond sight, but the sound of them crackling...it was clearly audible...too much in fact. The crackle soon turned to insidious laughter. It terrified her and she imagined herself going pale. She curled into a ball and buried her face in her hands.

"_PLEASE KARIN!!! I-"_

"_**Does it hurt?"**_

Now two voices were speaking over each other, one intimidating her, the other trying to comfort her.

"_Karin...I want to-"_

"_**Can you feel your skin peel away?"**_

Karin looked down at her dream self's hands. The skin had turned a bright red and the skin was peeling away to reveal blackened skin beneath and patches of bone beneath that.

"_**Look at your hands! You are just like us now! Embrace your new self! Kill all who stand against it! Is that understood?"**_

"I don't understand!! What are you talking about?! I don't-"

"_**Listen to the voices! Do as they say!! If they say kill, then you must tear out a throat! You must gouge an eye! You must-"**_

"STOP!!" Karin screamed in her mind. The flames burnt hotter now, her skin peeled more.

"_**You are lost to the weak! Join us...join us...JOIN US!!"**_

Karin bolted upright and was pushed down by a trio of men wearing white uniforms. She glared at them and grabbed one by the collar. "I wont join you!! Stop talking to me!! I don't want your help! Just go away!!"

"Calm down. You have had a terrible shock, you are just delirious." The other doctors tried to soothe her.

"I want my skin back!! I don't want to be all bones!! I want to be human!! You hear me?! HUMAN!!" Karin screamed frantically.

Karin whimpered as she was slapped heavily. She bounced against the wall and knocked herself out. The doctors glanced at each other nervously.

"What in the world happened to her? She's fucking insane!" A bald doctor removed his mask and sighed. We just need to get her to calm down. We'll give her some anaesthesia for the burns, it should sedate her a bit as well. But that is the least concerning thing...How did she get here?"

"That's right, she was floating in mid air...like a ghost!" Another doctor said.

Beside them, Hitsugaya sighed. "Please be alright..."

*****

Grim sat atop the clouds and glared at Sereitei. Fires still burned on Sokyoku hill and some nearby buildings were damaged as well. The corpses remained, all of them did, even those of his own soldiers.

"You were all too weak! I need power if I am to rule over the dead...and you all failed miserably!" Grim spat and watched his red saliva soar down to the court of pure souls. "I have a new weapon to test...It is a prototype, but it seems like it will be a success. It shall slay every last shinigami and raise their heads high and drink from what flows forth! It will bathe in the crimson rivers and dance amongst the ravens as they pick at the rotting corpses! It will destroy them all!! I call this weapon...Rukia Kuchiki! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!"

'gasp' What is this that Grim speaks of? Rukia as a superweapon? And what has happened to Karin, are the reapers planning to use her as well? Find out more in the next chapter!

I have really been having fun writing this. Even if you are not, I am enjoying it! 

I feel rather repetitive saying this, but the message isn't really working, so here I go again..._**REVIEW DAMMIT!! **_


	12. Rukia vs Ichigo: Fight or Die!

**11. Ichigo & Rukia...Fight or Die!**

_**READ AND REVIEW!!**_

Someone was laughing. They were laughing so loud it shattered glass and made buildings shake. Ichigo grabbed the sides of his head and clenched his eyes shut. His brain throbbed from the deafening sound.

"Ha ha ha ha!!! Face my latest recruit! No one will be able to beat her!! No-one!!!"

_What is he talking about...where am I? What's going on?_

Ichigo rose and studied the bloodstained ground around him. A severed head stared at him with accusing eyes. He swatted it away and swiftly got to his feet. Corpses were everywhere! There was no empty ground, only more vile, mutilated shinigami. Bile rose in Ichigo's stomach and he had to stare at the sky to avoid looking at another body.

The sky was glowing red in one spot...and it was actually quite close to where Ichigo stood. There was an explosion in the sky and then something shot off towards him. Whatever it was, it wore a plain black cloak, with the hood up to conceal it's identity.

Ichigo unslung his man-sized blade and held it defensively in front of himself. As the reaper came closer, Ichigo began to charge, his sword raised high in the air, the blade shining despite the darkened sky.

"Grrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhhh-huh?" Ichigo paused momentarily, his mind distracted by what he swore was an illusion. The reaper slashed him across the chest with a blue scythe which materialized out of nowhere. It then turned to watch the cascade of bright crimson liquid down Ichigo's chest.

_It can't be..._

Ichigo said in his mind.

_That reaper...it's...it's...Rukia!_

*****

Toshiro watched the doctors working on Karin. She had been taken third degree burns on her left arm and the rest of her body was singed. Her clothes were still smoking and blackened. The doctors had to redress her in a hospital gown and then start another procedure on her.

_Why am I here? My heart is tied to Matsumoto! So why am I here with this girl? But then again...I can never return to Soul Society...Matsumoto would never be allowed to see me...Our path together has been cleared away, never to be again. _

Toshiro felt a tear slide softly down his cheek it fell to the floor and landed on a piece of paper.

One of the doctors paused and bent down to retrieve it. He stared at the ceiling with a look of puzzlement.

"Strange...Something must have leaked onto this form? But what?"

"It's not important right now. Hurry up and help me!" The other doctor replied. Karin was having a seizure of some sort.

Toshiro watched on as they injected something into her. He wanted to look away, but he was unable to avert his gaze.

_Please be alright...Please..._

The doctors watched her rapidly rising chest slow. They checked her heart rate and then bowed their heads. "We should begin the surgery now while she is under control. Have you got the anaesthetic?"

The other doctor produced another needle. He injected her and then stepped back. The first doctor then leaned over her. "We'll need to do a skin graft. Her chest has been severely burned. His scalpel hovered over a spot of unaffected flesh when Karin's eyes shot open.

"Toshiro!! Where is he?!"

Toshiro ran to her side and held her. She sighed and hugged him. The doctors stared in awe.

"She...she's hugging the air..."

"Maybe it's an imaginary friend?"

"I am real!" Toshiro growled. He lifted Karin from the bed and turned to the doctors.

"She's...Flying!!" The doctors ran to her and tried to place her back down. "It's like something's holding her! I can't move her!"

"Let go of her!!" Toshiro kicked one of the doctors. The other surgeon watched his co-worker fly across the room and slam into the wall.

"It hurts...what did they do to me?" Karin whispered lightly. Her eyes struggled to remain open. Toshiro closed them and rested his head against hers.

"Be quiet. It's okay now. You're safe." He glared at the last doctor standing. The man was trembling and held a scalpel defensively. Toshiro kicked the man in the stomach and then stepped over him as he writhed about in pain. Toshiro carried Karin through the entrance doors and off into the street.

"I'll take you home." He whispered in Karin's ear. A small smile crept across her face.

*****

Ichigo gazed at the red spray from his chest. He began to sway on his feet so he drove his sword into the ground, using it as a makeshift cane.

The reaper watched with hidden eyes.

"Are...are you...Rukia?" Ichigo asked through ragged wheezes.

The reaper merely stared. Raising it's scythe slowly.

"Answer me! Are...you...Rukia?" Ichigo was becoming agitated, his eyebrows arced down and his face contorted with rage. "If you aren't Rukia...then who the hell are you?!"

The reaper vanished from sight.

Ichigo looked around frenziedly. "What the... Where did she..."

"I am the true god of death!" The reaper appeared above his head. The scythe swung down like a deadly pendulum. Ichigo raised Zangetsu and blocked the attack. The two became stuck in a deadlock, both trying to push the other back. Ichigo roared and with great effort, forced the reaper to leap back wards. It then charged in for another strike. Sparks flew as the powerful weapons clashed again and again.

Ichigo rolled under an overhead swing and sliced at his opponent's heels. The reaper jumped over the sword and landed on Ichigo's back. Before he could throw the reaper off, he felt the cold bite of steel into his flesh. He winced as the reaper wrenched the blade free from his back. Ichigo thrust his elbow into the shin of his foe and as it fell, he arced around with a horizontal slash. The reaper only ducked at the last second an the hood was torn from the shoulders, revealing it's true identity.

Ichigo froze. He had just tried to decapitate Rukia! His jaw dropped and so did his blade.

Rukia glared at him, her gaze unlike her normal self.

"This...isn't you! What did they do to you?!"

"They made me stronger!!" Rukia grinned before launching a combination of wild attacks. Ichigo ducked and performed a sweeping kick. Rukia somersaulted over him and used the bottom of her staff to club him over the back of the head. Ichigo fell face first into the dirt. It tasted ashen in his mouth. He spat out the gravel and then sat up, only to be knocked down again.

"_**Weakling! You were unworthy to take my powers! If you hadn't stolen from me...I would be even more powerful!!" **_Rukia laughed maniacally, only it sounded nothing like her. She threw her hands to the sky and howled. Lightning shot down onto her hands, melting the skin to bone.

"I shall grant you the power to slay all who you despise!" Grim shouted from the clouds.

"You bastard!! I'll kill you for doing this!! Leave Rukia out of our fight!!"

"Our fight?!" Grim asked incredulously. "I am at war with more than you! I am at war with all shinigami! Any who don't fall, shall kneel to me!!"

Rukia grabbed Ichigo's throat and glared at him. Her eyes were blank. Her cheekbones were visible beneath her skin.

"Rukia...your face!"

Ichigo winced as he was slammed into the ground so hard he had made a small crater. Blood bubbled around his lips and his vision became hazy. "Why..."

Rukia responded by stomping on his wounded chest, her now bony toes digging into his flesh. Ichigo cried out and Rukia laughed in his face. "_**You worthless human! How could I have ever **__**fallen for you?!"**_

The words stung like acid. Ichigo wanted to scream insults at the obscene creature that had come from his beloved friend. "Fallen for me?" He asked.

"_**Oh...I never said it." **_Rukia cleared her throat and spat. Flecks of blood were visible in the tar-like substance that she spat out. **_"I love you Ichigo."_**

Ichigo's face lit up.

"_**HA! What bullshit!! You're nothing to me now! My only friend is power!! My enemy is life itself!! You will fall to-"**_

"No one! I wont die until I see Rukia's smiling face again!! I will continue to fight until then!!"

"_**Silence!!" **_Rukia stomped on Ichigo's nose, a grotesque smile appearing as blood dripped down from Ichigo's now bruised face. **_"I could slay you without even using my scythe!" _**

Ichigo opened his mouth to speak, but a bony hand slapped him. As he reeled from the hit, Rukia sent a series of slaps and punches at him. Ichigo coughed up blood and a few teeth. His eyes hurt to open and his throat felt as if it had been crushed in a vice. His whole body hurt. Even his heart...

Rukia's eyes widened to the point that they almost fell out. Her skin tightened again, until it began to tear, exposing the white bone beneath.

"RUKIA!! PLEASE!! DON'T LET THEM DO THIS!!! FIGHT IT!! FIGHT THE DARKNESS, I KNOW YOU CAN!!"

Rukia, or what was formerly her, grinned wickedly. _**"The pathetic little girl you knew is dead!! I am here now!! Ha ha ha!!!" **_She bent down close to Ichigo, almost to the point they could kiss. Rukia's eyes rippled. Ichigo stared in confused terror.

"You're eyes...What are they doing?!"

Rukia's eyes began to melt, drops of wet, gooey eye fell down onto Ichigo's face. Ichigo began to hyperventilate. His whole body shuddered as the warm goo splattered his face. Rukia stared with blank eye sockets until two glowing red dots appeared inside them, like a small fire in a cave.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Ichigo's reiatsu exploded, throwing the monstrosity that used to be Rukia into a pile of corpses. Ichigo was lifted by some unknown force, softly landing on the cracked ground. A blue aura blazed around him, his amber eyes sending a piercing glare at his opponent.

"_**So...he can force me back...interesting."**_

"Shut up!!" Ichigo held his sword flat out in front of him, his gaze still set squarely on Rukia, who was merely a skeleton with tattered scraps of flesh hanging from her in various places. "I still think Rukia is alive...but she could have died...however...no matter what happened to her, the only way to free her is to kill you!! Ban-kai!!" Ichigo's body hid behind a sheet of black reishi. The loose ground cracked and shot off into the air as Ichigo's reiatsu increased even more.

"_**I can actually feel your spiritual pressure now...Maybe I can have some fun!"**_

"I will free Rukia from your grasp, whether she can return or not! And when I'm through with you...I will tear every bone away from that wretched son of a bitch who caused all this!! Now face me!! I will end you!!" Ichigo darted through the cloud of dust, his tattered black kimono flapping in the wind behind him. His shining black katana radiated a small aura.

Rukia rushed forward to meet her opponent. She hurled her scythe at Ichigo and laughed. Ichigo flash stepped around the spinning blade and charged for the defenceless Rukia. Ichigo jabbed his katana at her, but the skeleton leaned away from it. She then thrust her bony elbow into his chest. Ichigo stumbled backwards into the path of the scythe, which was returning to it's master like an obedient dog. Ichigo howled in agony as his left arm was torn to shreds. Ichigo screamed when he saw a finger soar off into the distance.

Ichigo stabbed his blade into the ground and then hooked his fingers around the side of his face. As he dragged them down, a hollow mask spread across. His reiatsu increased again. He snatched up his sword and charged again.

The two fought furiously, sending strike after strike after strike at each other. The ground shattered under the intense fighting.

The two both swung their weapons at once, both colliding between them. As they battled to push each other back, Ichigo glared hatefully at the monster he was forced to fight. "I will save you Rukia! No matter what! Even if I lose both my arms and my legs and my eyes are ripped out! I will not give up!"

"_**How foolish! A person with a brain would have quit! She is beyond rescue now! Even if you can become a hollow, it is hopeless!!"**_

"Nothing is hopeless, except for your petty war for vengeance!! This isn't a competition, it is a duty! We care not about who is the strongest shinigami, our job is only the protection of the universe and it's citizens! Your whole reason for existence is a stupid meaningless grudge!!"

"_**Meaningless grudge? You know nothing about the actions of the shinigami many millennia ago. We were murdered in our sleep by the shinigami execution squads! We were slaughtered before we could even know what was happening! How can you shinigami still talk of fair fights?! You are sly, traitorous vermin!! You all deserve nothing but the sort of annihilation we endured long ago!"**_

"So that's how it's going to be? It will only end with death..." Ichigo threw Zangetsu to his feet and spread his arms wide apart. "Kill me!"

Rukia's glowing red eyes widened.

"I will close my eyes and turn around. You can kill me while I am completely defenceless. Then we will be even. The war will be over and we can all be friends."

Rukia tilted her head as she thought. She dropped her scythe at her feet and then picked up Zangetsu. Before Ichigo could even feel the pain or see the blade go in, a thick spray of crimson liquid crossed his vision. He looked down at the long piece of sharpened steel protruding from his stomach.

_How! The whole blade...straight through...so fast...it hurts._

"_**Ha!" **_Rukia back handed Ichigo, knocking down on his knees. Ichigo was glad he could not the see her laughing. **_"You stupid humans! We don't believe in getting even! We only get revenge! Now...stand up!" _**Ichigo did as told and stood up. He then turned to face her. Rukia grabbed the blade and dragged it down, making the hole in Ichigo's chest even bigger. Ichigo howled in agony as the blade was yanked out.

"_**I'll tell you what...Perform hara kiri on yourself and before your worthless life fades away, I shall return your precious Rukia to you!" **_She smiled sadistically, laying the sword down at his lap.

Ichigo bowed his head and looked into the spreading red puddle beneath him. Amidst the red ocean, Ichigo could see visions of his time with the raven haired shinigami.

_Rukia smiled at Ichigo. "It's not Soul Reaper...It's Rukia."_

"_I'm Ichigo...It was nice meting you, lets pray it isn't the last." Ichigo thrust the sword through his chest._

The memories then flashed through different stages of their time together. Mixed moments from the battles with arrancar, other shinigami, hollows and then times at home. The laughs, smiles and other happy moments.

Then his memory brought up the face of the monster he was facing, bloodied bone and glowing red eyes. The face then fleshed out, the bones became concealed by pale flesh. The red eyes vanished amidst a sea of blue and a smile crept across the beautiful woman's features. She was the Rukia that had hypnotized Ichigo back then and the one which drove him to this.

"Rukia...I won't let you down."

"_**Are you done deciding yet? I shall see you die whether it is by you or me!"**_

Ichigo rose to his feet, his head still bowed down. "So..." Rukia stared at him, her eyes narrowing. "Our journey...ends the way it began..." Ichigo picked up his sword.

*****

At the infirmary, all of the captains looked in astonishment at their completely healed wounds.

Captain Unohana frowned "I feel bad for placing your lives above the others...but only you can do this."

"Do what?" Ukitake asked.

*****

Ichigo studied his reflection in his jet black katana. "Our journey ends the way it began..."

"_**What?!" **_Rukia was paralysed. She couldn't move.

Ichigo slashed Rukia's ribcage and watched her collapse. "You were too injured to fight..."

_Ichigo glared at the huge hollow. "If you want my soul then fight me like a man!! I'm the one you want so leave the others! Kill me!!" The hollow grinned, drool flowing from it's jaws._

"_No! Don't!" The female soul reaper screamed._

_The hollow charged at Ichigo, it's teeth bared, ready to eat him. Ichigo noticed a blur of movement as the creature came within a few strides of him. The hollow stopped. It's mouth was filled. It's jaws clenched down on the girl inside who had sacrificed herself for Ichigo. The hollow spat her out and stepped back, staring at it's prey._

_The soul reaper lay broken and bleeding in the gutter. _

"_Soul Reaper!!" Ichigo approached her._

"_You idiot! Just because it takes your soul...doesn't mean it is all over!" She scolded him._

"_I'm sorry...I...I just wanted to..." Ichigo failed to make a sentence. He was speechless. _

"_I cannot console you...I am to injured to fight it anymore...Soon, we will all be that monsters food!" Her pained expression made Ichigo experience a feeling he never had before. _

"_No...It's all my fault! I doomed us all!" Ichigo punched the ground._

"_Do you wish to save them?"_

"_What?" Ichigo turned to the dying shinigami._

"_Do you want to save the ones you love?" She asked, her eyes shimmering in the night light. _

"_Is there a way?! I'll do anything, no matter what it is!" Ichigo rose to his feet._

"_There is only one way..." The soul reaper extended her sword and pointed the point at Ichigo._

Ichigo stood over Rukia, just like in the memory. He then dropped to his knees, level with Rukia. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "Now to end this...with a blade through me!" Ichigo drove the blade through Rukia's back and through himself, the tip sprouting out from his back. The two stayed frozen in place, trapped in a deadly embrace.

The two fall as one! But will the sacrifice make Rukia return to normal? And even if it does, will she survive her injuries? Also, What is Unohana's plan? Find out in the next chapter.

_**NOW REVIEW!! DO IT!! To have read this far...you must have something to say. Tell me, it can only help. so...REVIEW!!**_


	13. Grind Their Bones to Dust

**12. Grind their Bones to Dust**

The intense reiatsu disappeared completely. The darkened sky seemed to brighten and there was total silence on Sokyoku hill.

Ichigo could still Rukia's bony frame...she had not returned...

_Did I fail? Have I saved her? She hasn't changed...she hasn't moved...I...I...killed her..._

Ichigo hugged the skeletal version of Rukia tightly. His tears dropped from his bloodstained cheeks down to Rukia's skeleton.

_I...can't breathe anymore...The pain!_

*****

Toshiro knocked on the door of the Kurosaki clinic. He then hid around the corner.

A middle aged man opened the door and screamed at the sight of his daughter.

"Karin?! What happened to you?! Who did this?!" The man fell to his knees and leaned inside the door. He yelled out to someone, demanding medical equipment and other things. As he picked up his daughter and turned to leave, he paused. "Thank you."

Toshiro approached him, a concerned frown on his face. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect her."

"Are you the one Urahara told me about? The kid that was banished?"

Toshiro bowed his head. "What I did was for the right cause...I didn't intend for things to get out of hand."

"Talk to Urahara...He can probably do something about getting your powers back...It worked for my son."

"Kurosaki...I can't sense him! Something must have happened!" Toshiro looked around with wide eyes.

"He went to Soul Society." Isshin explained. "The reapers went there and he followed."

"You know about them?!" Toshiro asked incredulously.

"Of course I know about them! I used to be a captain!" Isshin grinned. "They were around before Old man Yamma was even a shinigami! The war against them happened While he was only a captain, but the captain commander of that time died in the war..."

"Who was the previous captain commander?"

"Yammamoto's father." Toshiro's eyes narrowed.

"But...that is so long ago? How could the Reapers live for so long?!"

"I don't know. Right now I need to tend to my daughter. Come back tomorrow and we can talk more." Isshin poked his head out before shutting the door. "Thanks for bringing her over! I'll repay you someday!"

Toshiro considered the last statement as the door shut in his face.

_Repay me...I think I have an idea._

*****

The captains assembled underneath Grim. The reaper was still fixated on the events at Sokyoku hill.

"He hasn't even noticed us yet!" Ukitake whispered.

"Leave him to me!" Growled Kommamura. He raised his sword, which in turn made the giant golem's arm raise as well. Grim still hadn't said a word. As the towering blade crashed down an explosion of reishi sent shockwaves throughout the air.

The captains below shielded their eyes from the dust and smoke which blew past them.

When the dust cleared, Grim stood beneath the giant blade, completely unharmed. His scythe alone had blocked the weapon which was many times bigger than him. It resembled an ant stopping a foot from crushing it.

"Impossible!!" Kommamura roared. "How could he stop it with such a tiny weapon.

Grim chuckled softly, but it soon escalated into hysterical laughter. "For such a large weapon, it surely doesn't have much bite! Is this really the strength of a captains shikai?! What a joke!"

The group of captains all flash stepped to Grim, surrounding him. Each sword drawn, they charged as one. Grim leapt into the air and shot a red blast from his palm.

"He can use kido?!" Shunsui gasped.

"Of course. Despite our differences in appearance and strength...our fighting techniques are still similar. Now die!" A huge bolt of electricity shot out from his palm and shot off towards Ukitake. The white haired man jabbed his blade into the blast and absorbed it. He then sent it straight back at Grim. The reaper looked mildly surprised as he swatted it away bare handed, as if the deadly blast was merely a fly.

"Ha! Are you so weak that you must use your enemies attacks against them?! Pathetic!" Grim flash stepped into the crowd of captains and sliced in a sideways arc. The scythe bounced off from the blocks Ukitake and Shunsui, but Soi Fon was unlucky. Her Suzemabachi was too small to deflect such a powerful strike and she was thrown into a wall. As the debris collapsed around her, Grim flew straight into her. He threw himself head first into her stomach, winding her. As she coughed and wheezed, Grim slammed the bladed tip of the staff into her head.

Time seemed to slow as Soi Fon's head rocked backwards. A red shower erupted from her face as she sat there limply.

Grim laughed menacingly until he was interrupted.

Yoruichi stared with wide eyes at her dead friend. Her hands began to shake beyond control. She clenched them into fists and squeezed her eyes shut. "No...No...NOOOOOOO!!!!"

Grim turned to face her. "Hmm. A friend? Very well." Grim drove the clawed staff end into Soi Fon's torso, impaling her. He then lifted it up for Yoruichi to see.

Yoruichi struggled to retain her composure, she was losing her battle with control over herself. "Don't touch her!!" She yelled.

"Oh! Are you ordering me? Well guess again!" Grim slammed the body into the ground and cackled insanely.

"YOU BASTARD!!! I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU!!" Yoruichi shot down towards him, her black daggers already released in her hands. "RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHH!!" Yoruichi unleashed a blast of spirit energy at him. Grim deflected it with his scythe. As the blast dissipated, Yoruichi appeared through it, barrelling into Grim. She fell on top of him, slashing wildly at his torso. "DIE! DIE ! DIE!!"

"Yoruichi!" Ukitake roared. "Calm down!! If you don't then he will-" Before he could finish the warning, Yoruichi's chest exploded in crimson liquid. She fell onto her back and stared with clouded golden eyes. Tears rippled in the corners of her eyes as she cursed.

Grim kicked her in the ribs before rushing to attack the remaining captains.

Ukitake and Kyouraku both descended on him. Grim somehow managed to dodge or block the combinations of four swords at once. The captains watched, astonished at his speed and agility. Grim launched his own assault, grazing the captains several times. Ukitake nodded to Kyouraku who frowned.

"All right...Ban-kai! Let's finish this!" Shunsui flash stepped over to Soi Fon. He ran a hand through a puddle of blood and then wiped it on himself.

Grim watched on, his head tilted in childlike fascination. "What is this?"

Shunsui began to roll in the puddle of blood. His clothes and skin were now all red. When he was covered head to toe in blood, he charged at Grim. Both he and Ukitake muttered the same words at the same time.

"Irooni...Red!"

Grim struggled to comprehend what was going on.

_Red? My cloak is red...but I don't see what it has to do with-_

Ukitake and Kyouraku both hacked into him. The tar-like blood sprayed out, covering them both, as well as Grim himself. "Your Bankai...It has something to do with colours...You made yourself red to attack me. So maybe this will work. Irooni...black!" Grim dislocated his arms and used them to impale the two captains who were drenched in black.

"Well? Did it work?" Grim asked as Ukitake and Kyouraku dropped to the ground. Grim tried to laugh but began to cough up blood. "Damn! I can barely fight anymore! I'll need to finish this quickly!"

Three captains remained standing, Kommamura, Zaraki and Mayuri. The three odd captains looked to each other.

Zaraki grinned maliciously. "Leave him to me!"

"No!" Kommamura interjected. "We shall distract him...then you can deal the final blow! We can't play games right now!"

"Fine!" Zaraki grumbled.

"I suppose that will work." Mayuri muttered.

Mayuri and Kommamura both raised their weapons. "Ban-kai!" They roared in unison.

Two great shadows fell across the battlefield. One was a giant golem, the other, a mutated caterpillar with a baby's face. The buildings that still stood nearby were crushed under the two behemoths.

Grim twirled his scythe and the cut a circle into the air.

The two beasts were approaching.

Grim drew a fist back and muttered something in an unknown language. He then hurled a punch through the circle and opened his fist. A massive ball of black fire gathered where the circle was drawn and with a fearsome battle cry, Grim unleashed the black inferno down on the captains.

The golem caught the flames on it's blade, barely holding them back. The caterpillar then began to breathe it in. The infantile monster cried out in pain as it melted from the inside. The golems sword was disintegrating under the intense heat.

Zaraki grinned and tore his eye patch off. A yellow aura enveloped him and made the ground crack. The aura grew in size and formed the shape of something. It was hunched over at first but as it reared up it took on the shape of the grim reaper.

"I...AM...THE TRUE...GOD...OF...DEATH!!!" Zaraki roared. He swung his sword and the yellow reaper charged at Grim.

The black flames fell apart as the giant reaper turned into a huge blast of spirit energy.

All Grim could do was scream as he was incinerated in a great explosion.

Zaraki sheathed his sword and sighed. "For all the damage he caused...he wasn't even tough!"

The other captains stared at him. "Kenpachi..." Kommamura muttered. "You...are a monster!"

Zaraki laughed and turned to the fox-man. "That's right! And don't you forget it! Ah ha ha ha ha!!"

"Let us be thankful that brute is on our side!" Mayuri said as Kenpachi strolled off.

Kommamura nodded as he observed the smoking wreckage left behind.

*****

The infirmary was crowded. Although many had been healed, the injured still numbered in the hundreds. Kiyone was still bedridden, her internal organs had been badly damaged by the poison that Plague had spread. She heard someone grunting and she looked across several moaning patients to see her captain fighting for life.

A ragged hole had been torn through him.

"Ukitake!!" She screamed.

The white haired man turned to her and smiled...just before losing consciousness. Kiyone opened her mouth to scream but was distracted by a gentle hand resting on her shoulder. She painfully craned her neck to look up at her sister, Isane. The two glanced at each other in silence.

*****

Toshiro knocked on the door to the Urahara Shoten. The strange owner frowned at his visitor. "SO we finally meet. Come in."

Toshiro followed him in and sat at a low table.

"What brings you here former captain?" Kisuke asked.

"I was speaking with Ichigo's father...He...told me you gave Ichigo shinigami powers after they were lost."

"Yes, I did, but-"

"Please! Help me get my shinigami powers! I need to get back to Soul Society!" Toshiro begged.

"I would love to aid you Toshiro-kun...but the fact of the matter is...I can't." Toshiro's face fell. "Ichigo was only able to regain his powers as his were divided. His powers were a mix of Rukia's and his own. You however, have lost every trace of your powers. There is no way to undo what has been done. I'm sorry."

Toshiro wiped a tear from his eyes and bowed his head. "So my time has come to an end..."

"What? No, you've just lost the ability to become a shinigami."

"Then I am as good as dead! If I am no longer a shinigami...then I am nothing!!" Toshiro rose to his feet and stared at Urahara. "Do you have a sword?"

Urahara tilted his head. "I do...why?"

"Because, I want to finish what I tried earlier! To end my life!" Toshiro's eyes blazed with fury and shame. "My death is the only way to keep my last shred of pride!"

"I will not allow it! I may not be able to do as you asked, but I can help in another way. What if I snuck you into Soul Society?" Urahara twirled his cane and grinned.

"Really? You could do that?" Toshiro asked.

"Of course! I got humans in, I can get you in!"

"Very well. But when I return...I will die peacefully, no matter what you say." Toshiro was serious. His expression hardened and he looked sternly at Urahara.

*****

Ichigo could barely keep his eyes open. His breathing was laboured. He swore he could feel his heart touch the blade in his chest with each beat. His mouth constantly drooled blood and his neck muscles ached from just sitting up for so long. He relaxed his muscles and collapsed into Rukia.

"I...failed you...Ru...kia..." Ichigo fell silent and his eyes witnessed their last. In his last waking moments, Ichigo saw Rukia's eyes return to their vibrant blue shine and her face fleshed out. "I failed...you..."

Rukia blinked and gazed into Ichigo's eyes. They were so close to each other that she could hear his laboured heartbeat.

"Ichigo...what happened?!"

"I...failed...you..."

"What?! What do you mean?! Failed what?! Answer me!! Ichigo!!" Rukia screamed. Her arms wrapped around him and she gripped the blade of Zangetsu. She looked down at her own stomach and the blade that jutted out. "What...What is this?! What happened?!" She coughed and a fleck of blood landed on Ichigo's cheek. Rukia's eyes widened and she began to tremble.

Ichigo's cold arms embraced her in a hug. "Don't be cold..."Ichigo whispered so lightly it was barely audible.

Rukia's eyes became clouded with tears.

"I failed...I...never...saw your...smiling...face...before I...died..." Ichigo's head slumped over her shoulder and his heart stopped beating.

"Ichigo? Ichigo?! Speak to me!!" Rukia shrieked.

"I...love...you...Ru...ki...ah" Ichigo uttered with his last breath. His arms fell from her shoulders and lay limp by his side.

Rukia stared at her dead lover.

_This...This can't be happening!! He can't die! He just can't!!_

Tears flowed like a river from her eyes, staining her cheeks. She could only make incoherent loud sobs for several minutes. As her breathing stabilised, she leaned back and stared at the dull sky. Thunder roared in the sky, but to her it sounded like laughter.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! ICHIGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

And with those final screams...their time together ended, once and for all...

The dreams of Ichi-Ruki are shattered as Ichigo breaths his last breath...The reapers are finally defeated....but at what cost?! Don't miss the conclusion to 'Gods of Battle, Gods of Death'!!

Please review! Seriously...review!! I know by now you would have something to say...


	14. Dying Breath

**13. Dying Breath**

Please review!!

The howl of the breeze was the only sound on the bloodstained ground of Sokyoku hill. Rukia's screams could be heard across all of Sereitei as she clutched Ichigo's body tightly, not willing to let him go. Her ragged sobs caused her unimaginable pain, which added with the sword which impaled her and her loss, it was worse than any other had felt.

The shining black katana shattered into tiny fragments which then disintegrated.

Rukia hugged her dead lover and planted her lips on his. They were colder than ice, making Rukia shudder.

The captains departed, the bereaved young shinigami to mourn.

The very sky began to weep, pouring rain fell across the region, black clouds gathering in the sky.

As the shinigami felt Ichigo's reiatsu vanish, they bowed their heads in silence. One of the greatest warriors to ever serve had lost his life. It was a terrible loss.

Byakuya Kuchiki and Renji both froze. They halted their troops march and turned their heads in the direction of Sokyoku Hill.

"No...h-h-he c-couldn't have..." Renji stuttered in disbelief.

Byakuya closed his eyes and sighed. "He is gone. A shame, I had just considered him an ally." The stoic captain shook his head. "Her cries can still reach me." He muttered.

Renji also heard Rukia's cries. He frowned and clenched his eyes shut. The sound was unbearable.

*****

Toshiro entered the court of pure souls undetected. A shrill piercing scream echoed from the distance.

"Mr Kurosaki must have made a mistake...Ichigo isn't here."

Toshiro approached the barracks of his former squad. The nostalgic feeling brought with it deep sorrow and memories of all those who he left behind... Toshiro clenched a fist and continued to walk to the barracks. There were no guards, whether they were out or dead or just lazy, Toshiro could not tell, but it was a welcome relief...now he didn't have to sneak into his own barracks.

The oriental doors slid aside easily and Toshiro could feel weak traces of reiatsu from the one he searched for. After travelling through two more rooms, he came to his old office. Everything was still set up as it was before he was banished. The bright red couch in the middle of the room held something wrapped in blankets. Toshiro unwound it and stared at his Zanpakuto, Hyorinmaru. The weapon seemed to growl at his presence, awaiting to be carried into battle one more time. Unfortunately, it was to be left alone until it left of it's own free will.

Toshiro wrapped it back up and continued to the next room. Past the wafer thin walls were the one he came to see.

Hitsugaya gazed at the bed-ridden woman. A thin sheet was pulled up over her body. Her breathing was soft and quiet, music to the former captains ears. He smiled broadly as he approached her. Her wounds had healed very well, but she was still weak. She began to whisper something under her breath. Toshiro had to bring his face right above her own just to hear it.

"Toshiro..."

The silver haired soul couldn't resist the grin that spread across his face.

"I'm here for you Matsumoto..."

Matsumoto's eyelids fluttered slowly before steadily rising. Her first sight was of her captain. She gasped and leapt from the bed. Toshiro yelled as she landed on him pinning him to the floor.

"Yay! You're okay! I'm so glad you're okay! I thought you had died!"

"Not yet..." Toshiro muttered. He wasn't sure if she heard, but if she did, she chose to ignore it. "I'm glad I didn't hurt you...I thought you had died by my very own hands."

"It wasn't you!" Matsumoto replied. Your body was moving, but it wasn't really you!" Matsumoto frowned and studied the captain. "What's with the white kimono? It's torn!" She pointed at his ruined clothes.

"You weren't awake. I was banished." Hitsugaya stated blankly.

"What?! Banished?! Then why are you here? What did you do?!" Matsumoto asked more and more questions until Toshiro raised a hand to silence her.

"I killed the captain commander...and attacked you. I was banished, but Kisuke Urahara created a special senkai gate that allowed me to come back."

"Why?" Matsumoto asked.

Toshiro responded by embracing her. He kissed her passionately and they held each other for some time before they pulled away from the kiss. "I needed to tell you before I died...I love you Matsumoto...that is why this is so difficult for me..."

"What's difficult?" Matsumoto asked, a concerned frown crossing her face.

"This is my last day in Soul Society. Afterwards, I am never coming back."

"But I can still visit you in the real world can't I?" Matsumoto asked reaching over to hug him. Toshiro shied away and frowned.

"No."

"Why not?!"

"Because I will be long gone by then." Toshiro averted his gaze.

"I don't understand! Where are you going?!" Matsumoto crawled over to him and Toshiro gripped both of her hands and held them tightly.

"I am going nowhere. I am passing on." Matsumoto stared at him. Her head tilted in confusion. "I shall be dead soon after I return to the World of the living. I came here to say goodbye..."

"No! You can't do this!! What about me?!" Matsumoto grabbed Toshiro and pulled him close. "Don't go..." She whispered as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. "I need you Toshiro...I mean, captain Hitsugaya!"

"I am no longer a captain, or a shinigami. Toshiro will do just fine."

"Toshiro..." Matsumoto collapsed back onto the bed as she wept. Toshiro laid an arm over her in a half hug.

"Though I may die, I will always be with you." Toshiro kissed her gently on the cheek and walked to the door. Before leaving, he turned back around and gazed into Matsumoto's eyes. "Goodbye. I'll miss you." Hitsugaya walked off, ignoring Matsumoto's cries.

_I have completed my life. I have done everything I wanted. I became a shinigami, rising to captain rank. I made many friends...and I met Matsumoto. I have accomplished all I needed. Now it's is time to go._

"I thought you would come here."

Toshiro whirled around to face Byakuya. "What do you want with me? You have already taken everything from me!"

"I want to uphold the glory of our predecessors. You are tarnishing our reputation."

"I only did what was right!" Toshiro snapped.

"You have fallen on hard times, young dragon. Maybe the great ice serpent should descend into eternal slumber." Byakuya drew his sword and glared at the fallen captain. "Allow me to put you to sleep."

Toshiro flash stepped inside the barracks again, snatching his sword. As he ran to the front doors, they collapsed. Byakuya pushed them down and distracted Toshiro. As the former captain dodged the doors, he failed to notice Byakuya approach from the side. His blade sunk deep in the young souls side. Toshiro refused to make a sound, not wanting Matsumoto to see him die.

He swung his sword across his chest in a horizontal arc, forcing Byakuya to jump back to a safe distance.

"I wanted to die peacefully...but I guess a warriors death would be desirable." Toshiro growled, tightening his grip on Hyorinmaru's hilt.

"Warriors death? You must put up a fight for such a thing. I shall slay you before you can even scratch me...scatter...Senbonzakura." Byakuya's katana splintered into tiny, razor-sharp pieces. They hovered around him and shone as they were pelted with rain. The nobleman's hair was plastered to his head by the now pouring downfall.

"Hyorinmaru, I know you can't hear me...but please lend me your strength one last time!" The sword gave no response. Toshiro sighed and glared at his final opponent.

"Come, child. I shall end you before you cause any further damage to our pride!" Byakuya's cold eyed stare pierced through the young soul who stood his ground.

Toshiro began to sprint towards Byakuya, his sword raised high.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Toshiro's battle cry drowned out the noise of the rain.

Toshiro reached Byakuya...

Then everything went black...

*****

Byakuya gazed at the bloodied corpse at his feet. Hyorinmaru disintegrated in the childs hands just before he reached Byakuya, leaving him defenceless at the last second. Byakuya had resealed his blade and slain the boy with his unsealed katana. It seemed cruel to attack an unarmed opponent with Shikai released.

Byakuya sheathed his sword and turned away. "You died fighting with no blade in your hands...you have earned a warriors death. You can thank me when I too join you in the next life..." Byakuya looked at his reflection in a puddle. A bruise was on his face, where Toshiro had punched him seconds before he was killed. "It's not a scratch, but I shall count it. Well done, young dragon."

The rain stopped and white clouds appeared in the clear sky.

*****

THE NEXT DAY

Rukia had slept on Ichigo's stone cold chest. Instead of blankets, she wrapped Ichigo's arm around her. She couldn't part ways now. She knew deep down...even though Ichigo had dealt the fatal strike...It was Rukia who drove him to do so. She killed him!

"You saved me...Why couldn't I save you?" Rukia asked Ichigo. She knew he wouldn't hear her, or answer, but still, it gave her comfort.

"Ichigo, I am thankful everyday...that I found you." Rukia told him. "You changed my world, like I changed your's. You saved me when everyone else had given up. You made me believe in friendship...in love..." She stroked Ichigo's pale cheeks with the back of her hand.

"You became my whole world...but I never got to tell you. We never expressed our true feelings..."

She wiped a tear from her eyes.

"I never wanted it to end! Our time together...every minute...every second...it was like a dream, a wonderful, magical...dream."

Footsteps behind her made her raise her head, but she did not look at them.

"Rukia...You need to come inside, you are injured and-"

"No!" Rukia interrupted. "I am staying with Ichigo! He was always there for me! The least I can do is be there for him!"

"But...he is dead. He no longer needs you." The shinigami said.

"I know...but...but..." Rukia began to cry again.

"Rukia?"

"I never even got the chance to avenge him!" Rukia yelled.

"His sacrifice saved us all. If he hadn't stopped you, we would have all died."

"This was my fault." Rukia murmured.

"No, it was the reapers-"

"It was me!" Rukia craned her neck to see the shinigami who came to see her. Kiyone averted her gaze. "I was the one who was possessed! I was the one who attacked him, and it was because of me that Ichigo had to kill himself!! I was just a burden on everyone! I only caused more problems!! I am useless!"

"That is not true!" Kiyone approached her and squatted beside her.

"Then tell me what I did to help defeat the reapers!" Rukia snapped.

"Well...um..." Kiyone looked off into the sky.

"Exactly. Nothing...I'm pathetic. No wonder Byakuya hates me!" Rukia held her head in her hands.

"That is not true sister." Rukia whirled around to face her brother. "You are not pathetic." He said. "You drew Grim here to Soul Society where we could defeat him. You also ensured that innocent humans weren't caught in the fighting."

Rukia nodded slowly and then sobbed again.

"Kiyone leave us. This is a family matter." Kiyone rose to her feet and bowed before departing.

"Your friend is gone, leave him be." Byakuya dragged Rukia from Ichigo's corpse.

"Wait! We can't leave him here!!" Rukia protested.

"He shall be buried. I shall arrange for him to buried in our family cemetery." Byakuya said leading his sister away from the carnage.

"But only Kuchiki family members can be-" Rukia began.

"I have already arranged it. He shall be buried there, and when you too must be buried, you shall lay next to him for eternity." Byakuya stated while gazing at Rukia's expression which changed dramatically from bereaved to happy.

"Thank you brother." Rukia hugged him as they walked away.

*****

WORLD OF THE LIVING

Isshin heard a tap at his front door. As he opened the door, he found no-one there, only a hell butterfly. It perched on the mans shoulder and relayed the message.

"Mr Kurosaki, I have left this world now and shall never return. I am sure you remember your debt to me. Consider it repaid, if you can do one thing for me...take good care of Karin. Tell her I said goodbye and that she will be missed...sincerely...Toshiro Hitsugaya."

The butterfly flew off leaving Isshin to stare at the sky.

_Don't worry...I shall do as you ask...I will protect her..._

Isshin went back inside, but several minutes later, there was another knock. He walked outside and almost ran into the giant sword sticking out of the ground. Isshin stepped back and studied the huge sword.

It took a while, but Isshin soon recognised it...it was Zangetsu, Ichigo's sword. The former shinigami knew what this meant...his son had fallen in battle. Sending the Zanpakuto to the next of kin was a tradition in Soul Society, it was the only inheritance a shinigami could give.

Isshin ran a hand along the great shining blade and sighed. He went back inside, where no-one would see him cry.

*****

SOUL SOCIETY

Matsumoto took her first steps outside since she was attacked by Toshiro. As she drew the wooden panels aside, she screamed. Out in the courtyard, Hyorinmaru was stabbed into the ground, so that it stood alone.

Matsumoto fell to her knees and wept.

*****

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

KUCHIKI FAMILY GRAVE

Rukia sat beside Ichigo's tombstone. The breeze whipped her hair around her face, but she just brushed it back.

A memory flashed through her mind.

_Rukia slumped against the side of the gutter. She held her Zanpakuto out towards Ichigo. _

"Are you sure about this soul reaper?" He asked.

"It's not Soul Reaper...It's Rukia."

"Oh, I'm Ichigo. It was nice to meet you Rukia, let's hope this isn't our last meeting..."

"Don't worry..." Rukia whispered softly, her gaze drifting towards the sky. "I'm sure we will meet again someday..."

**End**

Thanks for reading! Hopefully, you will give me a review, tell me what you thought of the story. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I did writing, if not more. 


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